The Challenge
by alayneni
Summary: Robert Queen challenges his son to live for one year without any of the benefits of the Queen name and fortune. Can Oliver survive? AU, no island. Olicity.
1. Prologue

**The Challenge**

 **An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **Summary:** Robert Queen challenges his son to live for one year without any of the benefits of the Queen name and fortune. Can Oliver survive? AU, no island. Olicity.

 **Prologue – The Challenge**

It was a month before Oliver Queen's 27th birthday; it was a day that would change the course of his entire life. He had an appointment to see his father at 10:00am. His father was Robert Queen, the CEO of Queen Consolidated, one of the multi-billion dollar companies based in Starling City. Oliver chose to wear ripped jeans, a grey Henley T-shirt and a baseball cap on backwards to the meeting. He had already agreed with his father that at 28 he would start working at the family company and eventually take the reins from his father. Robert had forced him to get his business degree and despite having dropped out of six colleges, the seventh one managed to be the lucky charm. He had one last year of freedom before he became a corporate slave and he was going to enjoy it.

He arrived half an hour late to the meeting. There was nothing unusual about that. Oliver was always late. His father's Executive Assistant, a lady in her mid forties, Grace, shook her head in disappointment at his outfit but she still sent him straight in to see his father. Robert frowned at his appearance but said nothing. He pointed to the seat opposite him and he told Grace to hold all his calls. A few pleasantries were exchanged before his father got right down to business.

"Oliver before you take over this company I want you to learn the value of hard work and money," Robert said sternly.

"Wasn't that what college was for," Oliver quipped.

Robert sighed, he had realised too late in life that he had over indulged his son. As his father it was his responsibility to try to correct this error. It was a million times harder now that Oliver was older and had grown accustomed to a certain way of life but Robert found that removing certain privileges from his son forced Oliver to make the behavioural changes that Robert wanted to see. It had worked before to get Oliver to actually complete his degree.

"Oliver these are important lessons to learn," his father stated.

"I finished the business degree you wanted," Oliver stated defensively. After his father threatened to cut off access to his trust fund, he managed to pass enough classes to get enough credit to graduate. Granted he didn't graduate with honours or anything close to it but at least he graduated.

"I know," his father started but Oliver cut him off.

"That wasn't the deal" Oliver replied angrily. He thought his father's main goal in life was to annoy him.

"I'm modifying the deal, live for one year under an assumed identity without connections to the Queen name and I'll give you two more years of freedom. You won't have to here until you're 30," his father offered him.

"What are the strings?" He knew his father well. There were always strings attached to deals.

His father smiled. Business school was paying off. Oliver had in fact learned something. If he had offered Oliver this deal four years ago, his son would have taken it blindly. "If you use the Queen name or funds for anything the deal is off. You're back in the company at 28."

"What if someone recognises me?" Oliver asked. His face was regularly splashed across the tabloid magazines. In the last year or two the frequency had died down a bit but every time he got himself a new model girlfriend, he'd be right back on top.

"Make sure that they don't. You might find that if you cut your hair and grow a little beard that you would look far more mature."

"Why do I get the feeling that you came up with this entire scheme just to get me to cut my hair," Oliver grumbled.

Robert laughed. He had wanted his son to get rid of that ridiculous hair style for years. A short crop cut would look much better on his son.

"Do I get to choose my identity?" Oliver asked hopefully.

Robert presented him with a file. "Your new name will be Oliver Arrow. Your age and birth date remains the same."

Oliver looked through the file. He had a criminal background. All of the charges that he had ever faced were listed as if he had been convicted of those charges. He had served over 500 hours of community service for an accumulation of DUI's and 6 months jail time for assaulting an officer. There was no college degree listed either. His high school record was dismal at best.

"You can choose any city but Starling City,"

"Any city?" Oliver repeated thinking maybe his father hadn't thought this whole new deal through properly.

"Any city," his father reiterated.

Oliver smirked, "I choose Las Vegas,"

Robert sighed again, at least he didn't choose to go to the opposite coast, "Ok then. I'll give you enough money to survive for one month. Get a job,"

"No problem, I'll start packing my bags." Oliver smirked. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Robert watched his son leave his office and prayed he was making the right decision. It was going to be an eye opening experience for Oliver but he hoped that his son learnt the lessons that he was trying to teach him. He was trying to undo the mistakes he had made, mistakes he was determined not to repeat with Thea. His daughter was going into her last year of high school. She needed to pick a college and a degree to study. He wanted her to have an older brother that she could look up to. He didn't want her to have the lost years that Oliver had.

Later that day Robert Queen met with another man, a tall dark well built man who had served his country in the Army Special Forces Unit.

"Mr. Diggle, welcome, your brother has highly recommended you for this job," Robert said firmly shaking Diggle's hand.

"Mr. Queen," Diggle replied shaking the other man's hand firmly.

Robert motioned to the chair in front of his desk and Diggle sat down.

"As your brother would have briefed you, I've challenged my son to live for a year on his own, without the Queen family name. I know that I have failed him as a father but I'm trying to fix my mistakes. My lawyer has drawn up this contract. Your responsibilities are clearly outlined in Schedule A," Robert said handing him the contract.

"I understand. You essentially want a babysitter for him that he doesn't know is there. If anything goes wrong, I swoop in and get him out of it."

"That is correct," Robert agreed giving Mr. Diggle time to review the contract.

After fifteen minutes, Mr. Diggle signed on the dotted line. Robert was paying this man well to keep a close eye on his son.

"This will be his identity," Robert said handing Diggle a copy of the file he had given Oliver earlier, "He's chosen to make Las Vegas his place of residence for the next year."

"Seems appropriate given his reputation," Diggle commented.

"A driver will drop him on off on the Strip and from there he will make his own way. I will inform you where we leave him."

"I'll keep you updated regularly," Diggle informed him.

"Good,"

With another firm handshake the deal was settled and Diggle rose to leave. As the tall man reached the doorway Robert called out to him,

"Mr. Diggle, I hope I don't see you for a year,"

"I hope so too Mr. Queen,"

 **An:** This story started as a challenge to myself to write a 10,000 word one-shot. It quickly spiraled out of control. It was too large to post as a one-shot so it's been cut up into a month by month breakdown of Oliver's life during the challenge. This story is mostly complete so hopefully I will be updating it every day. There are 15 chapters. For anyone wondering about the 10,000 word one-shot, that's become another story that hopefully won't spiral.


	2. May

**Chapter 1 - May**

 **An:** I do not own Arrow. The response to the prologue has been amazing. Now I'm nervous because I don't want to disappoint anyone! Additionally, is not letting me reply to any reviews. So for anyone that has reviewed any of my stories since Friday, thank you. I will respond even if I have to PM you.

 **May-1**

It was May 1st; his father sent him to the barber for a haircut, gave him $5,000 cash and reminded him he had to find a job before he was dropped off on the strip in front of the Bellagio fountains. Oliver distinctly remembered peeing in this fountain with Tommy during one of his many Spring breaks. In fact that might be the only thing he does in fact remember from that particular break but he does know he enjoyed himself immensely.

Contrary to what his parents thought of him, he was not a naive boy who was blind to the fact that he lived a privileged lifestyle. He just didn't understand what was so wrong about him enjoying it. These days most of his partying was just to annoy his parents. The lifestyle was beginning to get a bit redundant. Even his best friend Tommy seemed to be slowing down as well, though that probably had to do with the mystery girl that Tommy was interested in.

Oliver started walking, dragging his two large suitcases, a supersized carryon resting on both and a back-pack full of clothes with him. He can feel the wad of cash in his pocket; he spends more than that on his bar bill in one night. How was he supposed to live on $5,000 until he found a job? He would just have to find a way to survive. He was not going to let his father win.

His first night in Vegas he checked into a normal room at one of the lower price hotels on the strip. He knew he couldn't afford the usual suite at the Grand. He actually did a little bit of research on hotel prices before he started the challenge but despite his research, he would have to find an apartment soon or the room would eat through his funds. He carefully examined the real estate section of the local newspaper looking for a furnished apartment to rent. He viewed a few but realised they wouldn't accept him until he had a steady source of income to pay the rent. He then prioritised finding a job. He started approaching the casinos for jobs but apparently when you had a criminal record and no degree, it significantly decreased your chances of employment, even the Big Belly Burger didn't want to hire him to flip burgers. He needed to revise his plan but he had to get out of that hotel room as it was significantly eating through his funds. He wondered how was he supposed to get an apartment to rent when he had no job?

He found a solution by dropping the standard of the apartment he was looking for. He ended up in a shady old unfurnished apartment on the top floor of a building just outside the strip whose owner didn't care if he had a job once he paid the first three month's rent up front. He checked out of the hotel, bought a sleeping bag and slept on the floor. It was like those camping trips during the summer that his parents forced him to go on so he would be out of their way.

The apartment consisted of one room, barely bigger than his walk in closet at the mansion, and a small shower/bathroom. He thought the walls were made of paper. He could hear everything his neighbours on both sides of him were doing, including their night time activities and the neighbour on the left was very active at night. He ignored all of the pitter patter noises he heard in the roof. He didn't want to know what it was crawling around up there. The pipes vibrated whenever he turned on a tap or flushed a toilet. He was grateful that they at least worked, though hot water would have been nice. There was no air conditioning, which forced him out during the day, where he would seek shelter in the air conditioned Wal-Mart three blocks away.

There were a few shady characters in his building. He was fairly sure that the person on the bottom floor was running a drug lab. Having dabbled a bit with some recreational drugs, he knew how dealers acted. He also thought he might have seen blood stains on another neighbour's shirt. He pretended that he didn't notice anything and gave the man a wide berth whenever he saw him. He made sure the deadbolt on his apartment door was always engaged. He briefly wondered if he should add some more locks to the door but he didn't know how to do that and he couldn't afford a locksmith.

He kept his hair short but also decided to add a five o'clock shadow to his appearance to give himself a more rugged look. It seemed to get him more respect from his neighbours.

 **May - 2**

It was May 16th, his birthday. His father had sent a driver to pick him up on the outskirts of the strip at 6:00am in the morning. It was close to a five hour drive back to Starling City. He would arrive in time for lunch with his family, then spend the rest of the day at the Mansion before partying with Tommy and then returning to Las Vegas in the early morning hours. His mother and sister were not to know about the details of his deal with his father. Robert was sure that Moira would interfere and undo everything he had been trying to achieve. The official cover was that Oliver was on a road trip enjoying his last year for freedom. He maintained contact with his mother and sister via phone calls and e-mails. He had been dating a beautiful Brazilian model for a month but she meant nothing to him so it was easy to break up with her. He didn't need the complications of a relationship messing with this challenge.

Oliver had taken the opportunity to pack all of his dirty laundry in three jumbo size black garbage bags. When his father wasn't paying attention he was going to ask Raisa to do it for him. He had no idea where the nearest Laundromat was yet or even how to do laundry. He was also going to steal more clothes from his closet so he could go longer without having to wash. Oliver was going to ensure he enjoyed the lavish lifestyle to the fullest while he was there.

Lunch with his family was the first proper meal he had had since he left for Vegas. He never ate at the hotel. He at least knew that the food was too expensive there. He had found a cheap Chinese place and he rotated between eating there and Big Belly Burger. His apartment had no stove. He was not investing any of the meagre sum his father gave him on a stove or fridge for that matter. He would have to survive on cheap take out.

His mother quizzed him about his road trip thus far. Oliver had to make several things up. He might have put the St. Louis Arch in the wrong state too. His little sister, Thea, gave him a weird look when he was talking about it. His sister was begging to join his road trip for the summer. Fortunately his father shut that down, telling her to concentrate on her SATs. She was going into her last year of high school. He wanted her to go to **one** college and perhaps graduate with honours. Thea rolled her eyes at her father. She wanted to have fun just like Oliver.

After lunch with his parents, Oliver packed more clothes from his closet and took a nap on his bed. It was wonderful to sleep on a soft bed off the ground. With no loud noises around or weird creatures to worry about, Oliver drifted off to sleep easily. It was only when Tommy was slapping him awake, did he realise how important feeling safe was to a good night's rest. He had only been there a short time but it was stressful to live in a place where your security was compromised. He hadn't realise it before but he was constantly on guard in that apartment.

Half an hour later, Oliver was entering Tommy's limo to go to the party Tommy had been planning for the last two months. There were plenty of hot models, who surrounded them as soon as they arrived. He made his way to straight to the bar, three of the models in tow. It had been 16 days since he had any alcohol. He was going to celebrate with tequila and lots of body shots.

Sometime during the night he saw Tommy talking with Laurel and Sara Lance, two of his ex-girlfriends. Laurel was the biggest disaster from his past. She was his first attempt at a serious relationship. Back then he wasn't ready for such a thing. Commitment wasn't a word that existed in his dictionary. It ultimately ended up with him breaking her heart. Things were fairly cordial now, Tommy having worked hard to smooth over things between Laurel and Oliver. You could almost call what he had with Laurel now, friendship.

After disappearing into Tommy's limo for a quickie with a young aspiring model, he returned to the bar. Tommy was nowhere to be found but the drinks were still flowing. He enjoyed a few more shots off of some particularly eager models. He knew this would be his last night of fun until May next year when he would have two more years of freedom.

He returned, drunk, to the Manor in the wee hours of the morning, where the Queen driver was waiting, ready to take him back to Las Vegas. A note from Raisa assured him that everything had been washed and cleaned for him and was safe in the trunk. She had also sent him back with plenty of leftovers. He slept all the way back to Vegas, the driver having to wake him up and kick him out of the car when they arrived.

 **May-3**

It was hard to return to the tiny fire hazard he called an apartment but he wouldn't give his father that victory. Two more years of freedom was worth toughing it out. He would find a job. He knew he would. He was confident that he could prove everyone wrong and survive. He wasn't a wimp that would perish without his parents to prop him up.

His sex life was taking a serious hit with this challenge too. Whereas women used to flock to him in droves, he only attracted a few brave ones now but it was enough so that he wouldn't be celibate for the year. No more supermodels and actresses though. The girls in Vegas really liked his new hair cut and five o'clock shadow. He had met a few at Wal-Mart and gone back to their places for a little fun. There was no way he could consider bringing a girl back to his place. The only real difference in his one-night stands now was that they didn't know he was a billionaire's son so none of them feigned interest in him the next day. It was easy to get in, enjoy the act, sleep on a proper bed, have a hot shower, maybe pinch some breakfast and then leave without any complications.

 **May-4**

It had taken him till the end of May but he eventually realised that the active neighbour next door was a prostitute. The man with the blood on his shirt was her pimp. He also had girls on the other floors. He supposed if he really needed the cash he could just charge a few girls for the one night stands. He did have a good body, though the current diet wasn't helping his muscle mass. He would have to start some form of exercising. He decided to pick up running. It had always helped to be able to out run women's husbands or boyfriends after he had been caught in bed with them.

The month ended and Oliver had yet to find a job or figure out how to get his laundry done. Perhaps this challenge had been more difficult than he originally thought.


	3. June

**An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **June**

He had been in Vegas a month and he still didn't have a job. He barely had enough money to feed himself for the rest of the week. He had taken a new route on his early morning run. He had gone west for three blocks and turned left onto a mildly busy street. He had heard the neighbours that argue talking about a convenience store that was located on this street. He decided to check it out. Perhaps they needed a cashier or cleaner. On his way to the store he passed a local bar, Off The Beaten Strip, with a sign that said they were looking for a bartender. Bingo. He could do that. He still continued on to the convenience store though. He bought the cheapest bottle of water, in order to flirt with the young cashier a bit. He was disappointed to find out that they had no openings. He also questioned her about the bar. It was the local watering hole. It was owned by an old man who lived in a small room behind the establishment. It had been there as long as she could remember. The girl tried to get Oliver to take her on a date but he shut down the conversation quickly. He had no money to spend on dates.

The bar wouldn't be open until the afternoon so Oliver explored this side of town a little more before he decided to run back to his apartment. At 2:30pm he had a shower, pulled out one of the last clean shirts and a dress pants he had been saving for a job interview. The one good thing about short hair was he didn't have to comb it much or add gel.

He walked at a leisurely pace. He didn't want to sweat through his shirt. He needed to impress. Twenty minutes later he was standing in front of the open bar. He said a silent prayer, which was odd since he never used to pray before, and entered the building.

Inside the bar was a lot bigger than he thought. It appeared to span straight across to the next street. It was dark with soft lighting. The bar itself was about ten feet long made out of polished wood with bar stools in front. There were fountains for beer both draft and light, as well as a vast display of different liquors on shelves behind the bar. The glasses were both over head and in cabinets behind the bar. There were three big screen TVs on the wall opposite the bar and one over the bar that each had a sports related event. Just off to the left of the entrance there was a dart table taking up the space before the bar started. The tables and chairs were more to the front of the building. At the very back of the building there was one pool table and foosball table. The space between the gaming area and bar area had a small square polished dance floor. You could dance either to the juke box or a live band that he guessed would occupy the small raised stage off to the side of the floor. It had everything a sports bar/restaurant should have.

"Hi, I'm Oliver Arrow," he greeted the old man behind the bar. He assumed this was the owner. "I'm interested in the bartending job,"

The man looked him up and down. "What experience you got?"

"I'm know my liquor well," Oliver replied thinking of the years he spent partying and hosting parties.

"Really mix me something," the old man challenged.

Oliver moved behind the bar and quickly scanned the liquor the bar offered. He decided to go with a common known drink, long island ice tea but he added his own little Queen twist to it. In two minutes he had the drink prepared. He even added a few fancy moves like flipping a few bottles. He and Tommy used to have fun showing those moves off to girls.

He placed the drink in front of the old man, "You don't strike me as the type to want a cherry or olive," Oliver said to him.

The old man took a sip. "It's good kid. Most of my customers are beer drinkers though. So there's not much work to do other than popping the cork here and there. When the occasional tourist stops by, they order these sorts of fancy drinks."

Oliver nodded. It seemed like the man might give him the job.

"By the way you got a record?"

Ah, the usual deal breaker. Oliver knew he could lie, he had lied before but a simple background check always revealed his record.

"I did a little time, nothing serious. I'm a straight arrow now," he said and realised he had made an unintentional pun.

"Sorry kid, I don't make it a habit to hire ex-cons," the old man said.

"I'm trying to turn my life around but I can't do that if nobody gives me a job. I've tried everywhere," Oliver pleaded.

"Come on Bob, give the kid a chance," a blonde waitress in a tight blue dress said.

"Easy for you to say Donna,"

"What's it going to cost you Bob? Try him out. If he doesn't work out then don't pay him."

"I'll do it." Oliver agreed quickly.

"You see that Bob, the kid is willing. We really needed a bartender like last week," she said to him.

Bob turned his green eyes to Oliver and studied him intently. Oliver wondered if the man was seeing his soul.

"Ok, if you want this job kid, then you star now, I'm Bob, that waitress that told me to hire you is Donna and the other one that's around here somewhere is Alice. Carl is out sick. He's the bus boy. Normally there is also a bouncer for security but I had to fire him last week after a brawl got out of hand. I'll hire a new one soon. The bar opens from 3pm to midnight, Sunday - Thursday and on Friday and Saturday from 3pm – 2am, though some locals have been known to keep us open later."

Oliver felt relieved, he finally had a job, he just needed to prove himself with this one night. Donna smiled at him before she went back to preparing the tables. He soon met Alice, the other waitress, a middle aged woman with red hair green eyes and freckles. As the regulars came in Donna and Alice introduced him. Things were going ok, Bob tended to stick to the kitchen. It was when Oliver went to get some buffalo wings from the kitchen that one of his customers ordered did Oliver realise that the mirrors behind the bar were two way mirrors that gave Bob a good view of what was actually going on outside.

Around 9:00pm, a petite blonde with glasses entered the bar. She hopped up on a bar stool close to him.

"You must be the new bartender," she said to him cocking her head to the side to study him. Her bright red lipstick drew his eyes to her lips.

"Yeah, you want a beer?" he asked her. Everyone had ordered a beer so far.

She crunched her face up in disgust, "Bottom cabinet on the left. There's a bottle of red wine. Pour me a glass of that. Bob gets it just for me."

Sure enough when he checked the cabinet, the bottle was there. He uncorked it and poured her a glass.

"Hi baby doll! Have you met our nice yummy bartender," Donna gushed looking between the blonde and Oliver.

"Mom!" Felicity said embarrassed, her eyes going wide behind her square frames.

"Mom?" Oliver repeated looking between both blondes. He definitely didn't think Donna had a daughter old enough to be drinking in a bar.

"Oliver, this is my daughter Felicity. Felicity honey, this is Oliver. Isn't he the most handsome man you've ever seen! The two of you would make beautiful babies."

Felicity's head snapped towards her mother, "Please stop embarrassing me. This is almost as bad as orientation."

Oliver chuckled at the two blondes.

Mortified, Felicity took her glass retreating to the small office that Bob occupied during the day in the back.

"She'll come around. My baby's a genius," Donna gushed.

The rest of the night was slow but Oliver found that his female customers tipped way better than the men, particularly when he flexed his biceps. He would have to take advantage of that. At the end of the night, Bob declared that he had done a sufficient job, choosing to pay him for his night's work and told him he could come back tomorrow. He was ecstatic but Bob did warn him he was on probation for the month. Any sign of trouble and he would kick him to the curb.

Oliver made a quick run to his apartment building. Despite the hour of the night, it was bustling with activity. Two men, probably clients, were on their way out as Oliver came in. A drug dealer tried to get his attention but he ignored him, heading to the stairs and taking them three at a time. As soon as he reached his apartment he slammed the door shut engaging the deadbolt immediately. Now that he had a job and the tips were decent, he could probably try to move out once the three months were up.

After a quick shower, he collapsed into his sleeping bag. He reflected on what he had learnt during his first day. Donna used to be a cocktail waitress at one of the big casinos. She was quite popular until she got sick; breast cancer to be precise. The Chemo had wrecked havoc on her and she couldn't work. Felicity had just graduated at the top of her class from MIT. Instead of her finding a job at a big corporate enterprise such as Queen Consolidated, she rushed home to take care of her mom. When money got tight, Felicity wrote a security programme for one of the hotels and sold it to them. It was a great success and soon all the hotels wanted her programme tweaked specifically to the needs of their hotel. It brought in the money needed for Donna's medical bills. The doctors think they caught it before it spread. Donna was supposed to be in remission now. She couldn't get her previous job back so Bob offered her a job and she took it. That was how she ended up at the bar. Felicity came every night to collect her mother after work in a tiny red mini cooper. He got all of that out of Donna in a five minute conversation. She really liked to talk.

Alice also used to work at one of the larger casinos. She had been kicked out for sleeping with the clientele. More specifically, after a bad romantic entanglement with one of the high rollers, the high roller had had her fired. She was still in her late thirties but she claimed she had learned her lesson. No more double dealing men. She was currently dating an accountant, Fred, the same accountant that came in once a week to do Bob's books for him.

Bob handled the management of the bar during the day and the cooking responsibilities at night. Bob's Buffalo wings were sensational and all of the regulars ordered it. Bob was the ripe old age of seventy five but he was the fittest old man Oliver had ever seen. He bustled about the bar, filling in wherever help was needed. All of the customers loved him. Not a single one would leave without saying goodbye to Bob first.

The bus boy, Carl, was supposed to help the waitress clear away tables and wash the dishes but he was supposedly sick. According to Alice at least once a week he called in sick. The boy had flunked out of high school at 15. Carl's grandfather was a good friend of Bob's and he had promised the man that he would help him. Donna warned him that when Carl was there he needed to keep him away from the bar. Not only did the boy like to hit on the girls at the bar, some drinks tended to go missing. The last bar tender had quit because Bob refused to fire the young boy.

 **Jun-2**

The next day he met Carl. The boy was thin and lanky with blood shot eyes. He strongly suspected that Donna and Alice needed to add that he was a drug addict to their description of Carl. The boy came in late, something that Bob disapproved of. The old man spoke to him about it but Carl just brushed him aside. The boy knew that Bob felt indebted to his grandfather and was taking advantage of the situation. Carl did in fact make an appearance at the bar the moment the Hoffman twins entered. They worked at a boutique on the strip and liked to come in after to work to unwind with a beer.

Oliver took a bathroom break around 8 and when he came back out, Carl was behind the bar. He eyed him suspiciously. Carl claimed a customer needed a drink and he helped him out. Oliver looked around the bar and he saw no one new. Everyone was still nursing the beers he had given them.

When Oliver closed up the register for the night he realised that $50.00 was missing out of the register. He knew automatically that Carl had taken the money but not wanting to make a scene, Oliver used his tips that night to put in the register so it would balance. He was new to this job, on probation and he certainly wasn't going to accuse a fellow co-worker who was definitely not going to be fired of theft. He really needed this job so Oliver decided to be quiet but to keep a closer eye on his bar.

 **Jun-3**

On his third day at the bar, a new bouncer named John Diggle was hired. He was an ex-special forces Army Ranger and had done two tours in Afghanistan. The man was reserved and observed everybody that came and went with a careful eye. The ladies liked him as well, particularly when he escorted them outside to ensure they made it safely to their cars. As soon as any customer got loud, he would move within arm reach of the person in case things escalated. He was very pro-active. What Oliver really liked was that when Oliver timed his break to Carl's smoke break outside, he found Diggle standing right next to the bar watching Carl keenly. The slimy little sucker had slipped in as soon as Oliver turned his back.

That night, one of the regulars stayed later than usual and he discovered that the floors and bathrooms were cleaned every night by an immigrant family from Mexico who arrived thirty minutes after the bar was supposed to close. Bob trusted them with keys. They worked very hard, for very little pay but it didn't bother them. Only one member of their family spoke English, their 13 year old son who came along as a translator. The parents were there illegally. Their son had been born on this side of the border. Locals around there referred to such kids as anchor babies. Bob didn't seem to mind. They were decent people who he could trust. They were willing to do work that none of the locals were willing to do and they worked harder at it. He didn't see any reason why he should not employ them. It was that night that Oliver realised that Bob valued hard work and trust.

 **Jun-4**

In an effort to receive more tips, Oliver had started doing push ups before going to sleep to get more definition on his biceps. He also wore tighter shirts that emphasised his physique. The girls paid him a lot of attention but Bob had warned him that he was not allowed to fraternise with the customers even after work hours. It tended to cause complications for business. Donna and Alice loved the increase in tips. There was a general understanding that everyone at the bar worked hard and the tips were split evenly. Even though Bob was the cook, he argued that he owned the business so he did not take any money from the tips. Soon even Diggle started to receive a portion since the ladies were tipping him generously for the escort. Diggle had honestly put the money in their tip jar instead of secretly keeping it. When Donna offered him a share he had refused but she told him he worked equally as hard and he deserved some of the extra cash since she knew Bob didn't pay him anywhere near what he deserved for having to put up with some of the more clingy females.

 **Jun-5**

Oliver had discovered that Bob owned a washer and dryer. One night after the bar had closed, he decided to approach Bob.

"Uh Bob, can I talk to you a second,"

"Sure kid, what's up?" Bob asked looking at him.

"I kind of need a favour?" Oliver asked.

"I do not give advances or lend money," Bob said immediately.

"No it's not that," Oliver said quickly, "I was wondering if you would let me use your washer and dryer. I kind of need to do laundry and I don't know where to go. I'll pay you to use it,"

Bob looked him up and down, "Now that you mention it I think you wore that same shirt on Monday. Come in early tomorrow. You can use the machines before work starts."

"Great thank you so much,"

The next day Oliver filled one garbage bag full of clothes. He didn't want to scare Bob with too many bags. He arrived two hours early and Bob let him in, showing him where the machines were. Ten minutes later when Bob came back Oliver was still staring at the machine. There were so many options and dials to adjust. He didn't know what to do.

"Kid you're looking at that machine as if it ate your wallet,"

"I wasn't too sure about the setting to choose," Oliver admitted reluctantly.

"Whites or colours?" Bob asked.

"What?" Oliver asked confused.

"Are you doing white or colours?"

When Oliver still looked confused Bob sighed, "you're obviously a mama's boy then who has never done a day of laundry in his life. I thought they made you work in the laundry room in prison,"

"I have never worked in a laundry room," Oliver said.

"Ok where's your detergent I'll help you out,"

"Detergent?" Oliver asked.

Bob looked at Oliver incredulously.

"Ok kid, I'm going to help you just this once. Listen closely because there is a lot to learn," the older man said.

Oliver listened intently as the man explained. Laundry sounded like a science of its own and he never realised that so much work went to it, particularly when he had to fold his own clothes.

 **Jun-6**

By the end of the month, Oliver knew all the regulars by name. He knew what was going on in each of their lives and he could tell by the way they walked through the door if they wanted a beer or if they needed something a little harder. People really did talk a lot to bartenders.

By 9:00pm each night, Oliver had a glass of red wine waiting for Felicity, his favourite regular. He had learned a lot about her. He liked her babbling and her accidental innuendos. It made every conversation with her unique. They had bonded over their dislike of Carl. Both she and Diggle would watch the bar for him if he needed a break. In return, he often chased men away from her when she just wanted to sit in silence and enjoy her glass. Both she and her mother were fond of picking songs from the juke box and dancing on the floor. Donna was more brash about it, she would do it in a full bar. Felicity tended to wait until the bar had emptied down to just them before dancing. Oliver liked to watch her dance. The only thing he didn't like when talking to her was hearing about Cooper, her boyfriend from MIT who still lived in Boston and wanted her to return there.

June had gone much better than May and he was optimistic that he was going to beat his father at his own game.


	4. July

**An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **July**

Having successfully completed one month of employment, Oliver decided to send his father a text message and let him know that he had found steady employment. He toiled over the message for an hour. He wanted it to be perfect. It needed to show him that despite what his father thought, he could make it on his own. Oliver was convinced that he already knew the things his father was trying to teach him. He knew the value of money and that there were people who worked hard for it. There was no point to this challenge other than earning two more years of freedom.

His father responded immediately telling him that he was pleased that he found a job and that Oliver had managed to stay out of the news headlines. He again reminded him of the terms of the deal. His father also told him that now that he had a job he could pay his phone bill himself. The bill was sent via e-mail and Oliver's jaw hit the floor. His bill was more than he had earned in June. He needed to cut severely back on his phone usage.

To make matters worse, his eager landlord had slid the electric and water bill under his door for the month of June. How the hell did the landlord even know what the bill was so soon? His landlord didn't look like someone he could ask for a little more time to pay the bill. He would pay those first and then start paying a little bit towards his phone bill. Hopefully his father wouldn't cut his service since his phone was the only form of contact he had with his mother and Thea.

 **Jul -2**

When he arrived at work, Bob told him he was off probation. That was good news. Oliver had proved that he could be trusted particularly when he had put money from his tips back into the register to cover what Carl took. That had impressed Bob. The old man had seen everything from the kitchen. Bob had explained that he owed Carl's grandfather his life. The man's last dying wish was that he took care of Carl. He needed to honour that especially in light of Bob being estranged from his own children. He felt he needed to do right by someone else. Bob was grateful that Oliver had respected that Carl was around for a reason and hadn't made a scene about the boy yet.

 **Jul-3**

The good thing about working in a sports bar was that Oliver could keep up with all the teams that he followed. He and Tommy would usually bet on the outcomes of matches. He hadn't made a bet with Tommy since April. He couldn't afford it. In fact, he needed to cut back on his phone usage. The hours spent talking about Tommy's latest wild adventure was the first thing on the list to stop. The roaming costs were killing him. He should probably get a cheap local phone so that he could give that number out to persons at the bar in case of emergencies.

 **Jul-4**

The Independence Day Holiday was the first time Oliver had truly seen the bar packed. It was a busy night but despite the hectic work, he hadn't missed the way several men leered at Felicity after she arrived. When she offered to give him a hand behind the bar, he didn't hesitate in pulling her behind the counter with him. Both Diggle and Bob nodded in approval. She was safer there away from any possible advances from the drunks. Diggle had already had to escort five men out for rowdy behaviour.

Oliver found it was easy to work with Felicity. They fell into a natural rhythm with each other. They didn't need to speak, the other automatically understanding what the other needed with just a look or hand gesture. To date it had been the most fun he'd had behind the bar. He strangely found himself wanting to work more with her. The bar had become his space, his territory and he didn't like anyone else in his area but for some odd reason she was different. It was a curious sensation to actually want to work more with someone but he was not ready to examine that yet so he tucked that emotion away for introspection at a later date.

At the end of the night Felicity was watching Diggle intently.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "You're doing that crinkly thing with your eyebrows,"

"Oh its nothing just it can't have been easy for him," she said nodding at Diggle.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"Haven't you noticed? Loud noises set him on edge. Every time a firework went off while he was at the door he cringed. Sometimes his hand would automatically go to his side as if he were reaching for a weapon. He's very uncomfortable when the bar's crowded too. I don't know why he took this job."

"He probably really needed a job," Oliver said. He could relate to that now.

"Maybe but it still must be tough," Felicity said.

It was the first time Oliver stopped to think what Diggle might have gone through when he was at war. What the man might have seen or had to do to survive and how that might have changed him. How it might make Diggle view the world now.

They went until 3:00am that night, even though Oliver stopped serving alcohol at 2:00am. Everyone was just happy. Oliver checked his phone and realised he had no service. A simple message on his phone indicated he needed to pay his bill before service would be restored. He couldn't believe his father had his phone cut for non payment! It was a good thing he had earned extra tips that night. By next week he should have enough funds to pay off the bill. He realised he would have to come up with a story for his mother, Thea and Tommy for why he was out of contact for a week.

 **Jul-5**

It was a week after the holiday when things at the bar would take a turn for the worse. Felicity had an IT emergency at one of the hotels so she was going to be a little late picking Donna up. Oliver told Bob that he would keep Donna company and close up so the older man could get some sleep. With nothing to do, Donna turned on one of her favourite songs from the juke box.

"You sure I can't coax you to dance with me?" she asked winking at him.

"It's quite alright you go ahead," Oliver said, dancing had never been his thing.

It amazed him how something as simple as a song could make her so happy. He had been keeping an eye on the door waiting for Felicity when he thought he heard Donna call out to him. He turned around just in time to see her hit a chair before she collapsed on the ground unconscious. He immediately dialled 911 while he rushed over to her side. The operator asked him to check her for a pulse. He was relieved when he found one. He remained on the line with the operator until the paramedics arrived. As soon as they came through the door, he used Donna's phone to call Felicity since he still hadn't purchased a local bill or paid off his phone bill. He was thankful Donna didn't know much about phones and never kept hers locked.

"I'm almost there mom," she answered right away.

"Felicity, its Oliver, your mom just collapsed. They're taking her to the hospital now."

The line went dead and when he tried calling Felicity back she didn't answer. He had never felt so worried about anyone in his life before. He managed to close up the bar in record time and then run the remaining blocks to the hospital. When he arrived he was out of breath but the panic he had been feeling disappeared slightly when he saw Felicity pacing in the waiting room.

"How is she?" he asked her.

"I don't know, they haven't told me anything yet. What happened at the bar?" Felicity asked worriedly.

Oliver placed both hands on her shoulders to steady her. He looked deep into her blue eyes, "your mom collapsed at the bar but the paramedics said she was stable."

"Do you think it's the cancer? That it's come back?" she asked fearfully.

"I don't know. The bar has been very busy. It's the summer. Perhaps she's just over worked a bit," Oliver suggested. He slung his arm around her shoulder and guided her to the nearest chair.

After a while, a doctor came out. He indicated Donna was awake and they could go in and see her. They weren't sure what had happened yet but they were going to keep her over night and monitor her. The next day, Oliver paid off his phone bill and purchased a cheap local phone.

 **Jul-6**

After a week of testing, the results were bad. The cancer had returned in a very aggressive form, spreading to her lymph nodes and liver. They gave her three months to live. Felicity was devastated by the news. She wanted to get a second opinion and take her mother to a cancer expert in New York. Donna let Felicity e-mail her tests results and case history to the expert. The prognosis was the same. Felicity had the tests redone with no change in the final results before sending the results to three other experts before she accepted the prognosis. Donna decided that she wanted to enjoy her last months. She didn't want to go through Chemo therapy again to extend her life span by a few months. No she was going to enjoy the little bit of life she had left.

She convinced Bob that she wanted to work until she couldn't work anymore. She loved the bar and the people there. The bar opened late enough to allow her to do whatever she wanted in the morning so every day before the bar opened, she would do something with Felicity first and then come to work. Some days they would include Bob, other days he or Diggle would join them.

 **Jul- 7**

It was near the end of July when Oliver heard a knock at his apartment door. Nobody ever bothered him before. He cautiously opened the door and found Felicity standing there with burgers.

"I know I said I would pick up you up after lunch to get your laundry done but I thought we could just have lunch together here and then go. Of course by together, I don't mean together _together_ , I just mean together as two people in the same room," She babbled. "I'm shutting up now,"

Felicity had given him a drop home a few times, plus she had dragged his apartment number out of him so it should not surprise him to see her standing there yet he was. In his stupor, she slipped past him into his apartment. He saw her take note of the sleeping bag on the floor and the two suitcases in the corner, the only objects in the tiny apartment. Oliver was embarrassed. He didn't want her to know how he had been living. To make matters worse, the creatures in the roof started running around and his neighbour decided to scream at them.

"Pack your bags, you're not staying here a moment longer," Felicity insisted.

"Felicity," Oliver said.

"No," Felicity said, shaking her head from side to side, her blonde pony tail swinging behind her head. "This is a death trap Oliver. You see that mold on the ceiling," she commented pointing at the mold he had never noticed, "It's not healthy for you. I can't leave here knowing you're living like this."

"Where do you expect me to go?" he asked. He had been looking at other apartments but even with his job, the furnished apartments were too expensive. There were no unfurnished apartments in good neighbourhoods available.

"Home with me, you can sleep in my bed" realising that didn't sound too good she expounded, "what I meant was that I can share with my mom and you can use my room. I spend most of my nights monitoring her anyway. It can just be till you find a new place of your own but you are **NOT** staying here Mister."

Oliver heavily protested. Felicity crossed her hands in front of her chest, "Don't make me, make you," she threatened.

Oliver nearly laughed. Felicity was physically small compared to him. The image in his head of her trying to drag him out of the apartment kicking and screaming was hilarious but he knew Felicity and she didn't issue idle threats. If she thought she could make him go, then she could make him go. There was no point arguing with her. Forty minutes later he found himself standing in her room.

It was a small room with a twin bed. The only other furnishings in the room were a dresser where he assumed Felicity kept her clothes and a simple desk that had computer parts sprawled across it. There were no dolls or pictures of boy bands on the wall but there was a poster from an old Robin Hood movie. There was one bathroom in the apartment that he would have to share with the girls.

When Donna saw Oliver with his bags, she raised a questioning eyebrow. Felicity told her mom that he was moving in temporarily. Donna smiled, "great there's some heavy stuff I need moved." She said no other words about his sudden appearance in their apartment. Oliver offered to pay rent until he found a better place to live but Felicity refused to accept his help. Donna eventually came up with a compromise, she told him to cook for them. Oliver had no idea how to cook so Donna told him to ask Bob. That led to Bob teaching Oliver how to cook every Thursday morning at the bar.

 **Jul-8**

The first cooking lesson with Bob found him being assaulted with a frying pan after he said it was a pot. The old man had a mean swing.

"If you thought laundry was complicated, you might be biting off more than you can chew with this!" Bob commented.

"Maybe but I made a deal with Donna and Felicity so I have to learn how to cook," Oliver responded.

Bob made him take out every cooking device in the kitchen in an effort to teach him what was what. After that was done and Oliver sort of remembered what everything was, Bob taught him to cook scramble eggs in the frying pan. After he mastered scrambling eggs, he then went on to other versions of eggs, culminating in making the perfect omelet.

Donna was more than willing to give him feedback every morning when cooked breakfast for them. She was looking forward to Oliver learning to do lunch and dinner. She had asked Bob to teach Oliver how to cook Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was one of the meals she used to serve at the bar in her old job to some of the customers. It was something that smelled good but she couldn't afford to order herself.

 **Jul- 9**

Living with Felicity and Donna was much easier than he thought it would be. He had learnt early to get coffee in Felicity's system as soon as she woke up to avoid her loud voice in the morning and do not eat her ice cream. He also learned not to hog the hot water on the first day but who could blame him, he had been living the last two months without it. When Felicity had to physically go into work in the mornings instead of working on her computer system or tablet, it left him alone with Donna. It was interesting to hear her stories about working as a single mother. Occasionally she would mention Felicity's father.

One benefit of living there was the access to a TV again. Sure there were the ones at the bar but he was busy working and couldn't watch them. He had found a TV programme one day that had been showing different tricks bartenders did. He set it to record on the DVR and started trying to execute some of the moves he saw on the show. He had a few ideas on how to improve his service to his customers.

There were however three downsides to living with them though. One, he didn't feel comfortable bringing a girl home or going to a girls place. He would never disrespect Donna or Felicity by bringing a one night stand into their home. He didn't want that, they had taken him in and showed him only kindness. Two, he had to squeeze his tall frame into a small mini cooper every night and three, he heard a lot more about that dick named Cooper than was good for his sanity.

He was now a quarter of the way through his challenge and all things considered, he thought things were going very well with the minor exception of Donna's illness.


	5. August

**An:** I do not own Arrow. To the guests that reviewed. Thank you. :)

 **August**

July had been a busy month but August was supposed to be just as busy. Everyone could see that Donna was growing weaker and more tired so Bob hired a new waitress to help Donna out. Her name was Carol. She was 5'8" tall brunette, with very nice curves. She was equally as popular as Donna with their male clientele. She was also very fond of hitting on Oliver. She would often lean over the bar, giving him a great view of her cleavage and ask him out. Oliver very much appreciated the view but he suspected that sleeping with Carol would complicate things for him at work. Donna didn't seem pleased with the way the young girl threw herself at Oliver and even Felicity seemed to be disappointed in him when he flirted back with Carol. In an effort not to disappoint his roommates, he started rejecting Carol's advances.

 **Aug-2**

Bob had asked Oliver to wait for Miguel to ask him to polish the floors this coming Sunday night. He gave Oliver an envelope with a 50% advance payment so that Miguel could purchase the necessary materials for the job. Felicity took Donna home and told Oliver to call her when he was finished. Digg offered to wait the half hour with Oliver.

Diggle threw a twenty on the bar, "let's have us some Tennessee whiskey. It'll put some hair on your chest."

"I closed down the register for the night," Oliver replied.

"Put it on tomorrow's bill then,"

"Fair enough," Oliver said making a note to remind him to cash it up the next day. He grabbed the bottle and two glasses.

"On the rocks?" he asked the bouncer.

"Neat," Diggle responded.

Oliver poured the drink and handed Diggle his glass. Diggle picked it up and knocked it back in one go, slamming the glass down when he was done. Oliver followed suit as well, relishing in the familiar burn as it made its way down this throat. Despite working in a bar, it had been a while since he had a drink.

"So you got a girl?" Diggle asked

"No, you?"

"A wife actually but we are separated at the moment,"

"I'm sorry to hear that,"

"Nothing to be sorry about. We got married on a tour over there. When we got back stateside things were different. She went back for another tour. It ends in November. She'll be home for thanksgiving and we are supposed to discuss the state of our relationship,"

"The longest faithful relationship I ever had was 6 months," Oliver told him.

"I'm assuming there is a reason you qualified it with faithful?"

"I had one longer but I cheated on her constantly. I don't count that."

"So you've stopped cheating then," Diggle asked him curiously.

"Yes, I never thought I would say this but I'm looking for something different now. I still do the one night stands but I do want something more. I just want to feel a little more settled before I enter into a long term relationship with someone. Right now things are in flux," Oliver told him truthfully.

"The love of a good woman is hard to find," Diggle admitted. "I realise that now. This has been a hard year. I truly miss Lyla, my wife. I know now that I should not let her go. I know we need to fight for a way to make it work here."

Oliver found himself opening up to Diggle, telling him about:

* Laurel – his first attempt at a relationship. The one he cheated on relentlessly,

* Helena – the crazy chick and ironically the first one he didn't cheat on,

* McKenna – the girl that lasted six months. It ended when she broke her hip and had to move away from physical therapy,

* Isabel – A cougar he had been involved with for two months, and

* Sara – Laurel's younger sister, who he dated for five months. Sara eventually ended it because they weren't right for each other. She said he needed someone else. What that meant Oliver had no idea.

The door to the bar opened interrupting them and Miguel walked in followed by his wife and son.

"Buenas Noches," Miguel greeted them.

"Buenas Noches," Oliver answered. He had started picking up Spanish from the few times he had interacted with them.

Juanita, Miguel's wife, was wearing a beautiful Mexican shawl, "that is very beautiful," he told her in Spanish. She thanked him and told him she made it herself. He didn't quite catch the meaning and their son translated for him.

An idea occurred to him.

"Can your mom make one for my sister? I will pay her," he asked. He was supposed to be traveling the world, he needed something exotic to give to Thea.

"Si Senor," Juanita replied.

"Gracias," Oliver responded.

Oliver informed Miguel of Bob's instructions for the bar. When he was done, he and Diggle exited the bar.

"Aren't you going to call Felicity?" Diggle asked.

"It's late, she's tired. I don't want her driving so much. I can run home," Oliver said.

"Dude if you run home she's going to use her loud voice on you and trust me, after being on the receiving end of it once after I messed up her Big Belly Burger order, it's not a nice experience. I'll drop you home."

"You don't have to do that," Oliver said.

Diggle smiled, "just get in the car Oliver,"

 **Aug-3**

When Felicity slumped against the bar one evening ordering a scotch, warning bells went off in Oliver's head and he remembered a conversation he had eavesdropped on last night. Cooper was being a dick as usual. He always waited until ungodly hours of the morning to call Felicity. Personally Oliver thought he was calling her after he cheated on her. The timing made sense when you thought about it from that perspective. The jerk was whining about some code he needed help with and he wanted Felicity to come out there and help him.

"So Asshat giving you trouble?" Oliver asked

"Not you too?" Felicity groaned. Why was it no one like her boyfriend?

"There's probably a reason for that," Oliver commented sagely.

"I said that out loud, didn't I? I swear, he's not that bad," she defended.

"Felicity, I heard everything he said to you last night. Did it ever occur to you that if everyone thinks he's a jerk, then he is a jerk. You know if it quacks like a duck then it is a duck."

Felicity glared at him.

Oliver felt very uncomfortable with her being angry at him, so he decided to mix her a drink. He started showing off a few of the fancy moves he had been practicing. He knew she enjoyed watching him juggle the bottles or throwing the olive into drinks from across the bar. His aim was never off. By the time he was finished, she was smiling at him.

"Now that is the smile I like to see," Oliver commented.

Her eyes twinkled as she took a sip of his new concoction. He had been trying to come up with a signature cocktail for the bar.

"I really like this one," she took another sip, "this could be the one!"

"I'll name it Felicity then," he smiled.

They stared at each other for a moment before Donna called her a way for a minute and he watched her walk away with a dopey smile on his face.

"You know you're the only one she smiles like that for," Diggle commented.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"And she's the only one that puts that puppy look on your face," he further added.

"I do not have a puppy look on my face," Oliver responded.

"Bro, you need to look in the mirror," he said before walking back to the door.

He ignored Diggle, going back to tending to his bar.

 **Aug- 4  
**

A few nights later, Felicity sent him and Donna text messages telling them to meet her in the car park when they were finished with work. They both thought it was strange. Felicity always came inside to talk. Oliver had finished up quickly with the bar but Donna was still finalising the tips so he left her behind. He found Felicity crying in the car.

"What's wrong?" he asked jumping in the passenger seat. He had learned to make himself small.

She ducked her head away from him.

"Felicity," he said gently reaching out to take her hand in his, "you can talk to me,"

"I broke up with Cooper,"

"About damn time," Oliver responded.

She lifted her head to glare at him, "you're not helping."

"I don't think he's worth crying over. He treated you terribly. I was fairly sure he was cheating on you,"

"He was cheating on me?" Felicity questioned the tears starting to flow faster.

"You mean you didn't break up with him because of that," Oliver asked.

"No, he said it was a good thing my mom was dying so I could be free of that useless burden and come help him with his projects," she spat out.

Oliver clenched his fist. If he ever met Cooper, he was going to rearrange his face. He jumped out of the car, rounded the front, to the driver's side. He opened the door and dragged Felicity straight into his arms.

"He does not deserve you," Oliver said holding her tight against him.

She cried into his chest. He could feel the sobs as they wracked her body. His shirt started to grow wet but he didn't mind one bit.

"Let it out," he said rubbing her back gently, "tonight should be the only night you shed your precious tears over that scumbag,"

The sound of clicking heels against the pavement drew his attention to Donna. She immediately looked concerned. He mouthed to her that she had broken up with Cooper. Donna gave them a sympathetic smile. She walked around the car, opened the back door, scooted in and then patted the space next to her. He guided Felicity straight into her mother's waiting arms. He squeezed himself into the driver's seat, having moved the seat back to its furthest point to accommodate his legs. Felicity didn't seem to register the lack of foot space in the back seat. Soon they were headed for home but he made a quick detour to Wal-Mart for ice cream and wine. It was going to be a long night.

 **Aug-5**

In the following days, Felicity seemed to recover a little with his help. He had been doing shirtless push-ups in front of the TV when Felicity tripped over one of the sofas because she was too busy staring at him. It was then he knew that she was going to make a full recovery. Her face was bright red and she was trying not to look at his chest.

"Who put that sofa there?" Felicity commented glaring at the offending furniture.

"It has always been there Felicity," Oliver laughed.

She turned even redder, her eyes trying to look everywhere but at him. Oliver decided to take it easy on her, "I'm going for my morning run, the coffee is already made for you. Do you need anything at the store?"

She shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen.

Oliver usually varied his routine and the length of his runs but he found he had more energy to burn off this morning, the image of a flustered Felicity seemed to be driving him forward. Usually he would run in one direction for six blocks and then come back down an adjacent street but instead he decided to double back the way he came and then come back down to make the run down the adjacent street. In doubling back he ran into Diggle.

"Digg!" he said surprised to see the other man.

"Oh hey Oliver, fancy meeting you out here," Diggle said nonchalantly.

"We live a few blocks away. The apartment building that's on the corner of Cactus Lane," Oliver said. "How come you're out here too?"

"It really is a small world Oliver, I live on Cactus Lane too," Diggle said.

Oliver laughed. It turned out that Diggle was renting an apartment five buildings down from where he and Felicity were. Diggle joined him for the rest of his run.

 **Aug-6**

At three o'clock in the morning he got an angry text message from his sister telling him that she had been grounded for coming home late. She thought it was entirely unfair that he got to travel the world and she had to be home by 8pm each night. He reminded her that she was only 17. He told her she didn't need to rush her life. She had plenty of time to enjoy it but she needed to focus on school first. He saw what a lack of education had done for Carl. He didn't want his sister to be like that. He didn't want her to become a sponge that fed off of society. Ironically, he realised that was exactly what he had been to his parents, a sponge that fed off of their wealth. None of it he had earned.

 **Aug-7**

Oliver had a few ideas to improve the bar. He nervously approached Bob one morning. He had written up a whole proposal complete with budget estimates and cash flow projections for implementing his ideas. It was the first time he had ever worked so hard on something in his life and he was proud of his proposal. He had put more effort into it than his cumulative six years at college. It was the first time he was putting some of the principals that he had supposedly learnt at college to practical use. After two months working at the bar, Oliver realised that Bob was barely breaking even. He needed more customers to come in during the week so Oliver devised a plan to get the some of the tourists off the strip and into their bar.

Bob had listened to everything he said but the old man was hesitant to try his ideas. He said he needed some time to think about it. Oliver was disappointed at first but Felicity helped him realise that the bar was Bob's life. Changes needed to be introduced to him slowly. She was positive Bob would come around eventually. She encouraged Oliver to take baby steps, to slowly show Bob that some changes could be good.

 **Aug -8**

Oliver had convinced Felicity to take Donna out in the morning so that he could prepare a special lunch for her. He had finally mastered the Chicken Cordon Bleu and was ready to serve Donna a meal worthy of her. Since he wasn't paying rent, he sank his money into buying the best ingredients to cook for them. All of the produce was fresh and the chicken was free-range chicken grown without hormones. He bought a bouquet of bright flowers to use as a centrepiece for the table. He had taken out Donna's best plates and cutlery to lay the table. Felicity sent him a text message when they were five minutes away and Oliver quickly plated the food and placed it on the table.

He stepped outside the apartment to wait for them. When Donna came up, Oliver blindfolded her and led her inside.

"What is that delicious smell?" she asked.

He led her to the table and removed the blindfold. Felicity stood ready at the side with both her camera phone and her tablet set up recording. Donna's face went slack with shock, her hands flying to her face as she took in the scene before her. Tears started to slide down her face.

"You hate it?" Oliver asked fearfully.

"I love it Oliver! No one has ever put this much effort into doing something for me," Donna admitted hugging him. Oliver tried not to think about how weak her hug was.

Donna ate with gusto, loving every bite. Her happiness made Felicity smile, which in turn made him happy. It felt great to genuinely do something for someone. He found it hard to believe that no one had ever appreciated Donna. She was such a joy to be around. He sincerely hoped that Felicity never settled for anyone that mistreated her. Felicity deserved the world and Oliver was going to make sure she found someone to give it to her.

 **Aug-9**

Donna's health started to really decline at the end of August and she was leaving the bar by 8pm. Diggle was dropping Oliver home. He didn't mind running home but Diggle insisted that since he was on the way it was not a problem. When the dark circles started to take up permanent residence under Felicity's eyes. Oliver decided to take over all the driving. He was afraid she might fall asleep behind the wheel one night. He longed for his sleek BMW parked in the Queen mansion but he had to be grateful for what he had. He could just have easily been a male prostitute at the side of the road living day to day.

Four months into the challenge and Oliver found he was very much dreading September.


	6. September

**September**

 **An** : I do not own Arrow. To the guest, Krissie, thank you for your review. Some persons may want to have a tissue handy for this chapter.

Oliver was very grateful that it was finally cooling down a little. He was discovering that he was actually kind of happy with the life he had now. He didn't miss the partying, he certainly didn't miss the hangover the next day or the awkward morning after with his one night stands. He did miss sex, what guy didn't.

To take Felicity's mind off of her mother Oliver decided to take her shopping for Labour Day. With not having to pay rent, he had a little disposable income and he didn't have a better person to spend it on than Felicity. His sister always referenced it was good therapy for the soul. Donna had approved of the idea and ushered Felicity out of the house, leaving Donna with Alice and Fred keeping her company.

He drove her to the nearest mall.

"Are you sure you want to go shopping?" she asked him again.

"Yes," he said.

She gave him the same look she had when he first suggested it. He noticed her hand twitch. She probably wanted to double check he didn't have a fever again. She swore he was delirious.

"So what's your favourite store?"

"Usually tech stores but I'll spare you the boredom of watching me gush over the latest electronic processors. I need a few dresses and there's a cheap store here that carries some great stuff."

"Dresses it is then. Lead the way," Oliver said happily. She watched him wearily again before she walked off in the direction of the store.

Felicity selected a few dresses to try on and Oliver added a few he thought would look good on her. He immensely enjoyed the fashion show Felicity gave him, more than a friend should have. For the hour they were in that story, all worry about her mother was erased and she was just a girl looking for a new dress. After a mini fight at the cash register over who would pay, Oliver walked away with five dresses for her. It felt good to buy her a gift from the money he was working hard for. He realised he liked treating her and this would probably not be the last time he bought something for her. His mind briefly wondered to his father's words about hard work and the value of money. He shoved them to the back of his mind.

 **Sep-2**

Donna was hospitalised shortly after the trip to the mall. Oliver had the mini now, since Felicity spent all of her time at the hospital. She had gotten her mother a private room that would allow Felicity to stay past visiting hours. Her mother had protested, apparently the room was eating up a lot of the funds Felicity had saved from selling her software to the casinos. Oliver would pop in, in the mornings to say hello and bring them breakfast and a packed lunch. Someone else from the bar would bring dinner. Every day he could see Donna slowly slipping away and his heart ached. He didn't know how Felicity had the strength to do it every day. They had set up a schedule at the bar so that everyone visited every day at different times.

 **Sep-3**

Oliver sat with Donna one morning while Felicity was talking with the doctor. There had been something bothering him.

"Why didn't you ever let me pay rent?" Oliver asked her.

"I worked hard to raise Felicity. I paid all the bills myself. I grew accustomed to making do without a man's help. And as I understood it, you were just staying until you found another place to stay. I used to give everything to Felicity's father, my love, my trust, my twenties. When he left I didn't know where he was, even if I did, he probably wouldn't have paid a dime in child support anyway. I was left with a daughter to raise. I had to make things work. I grew accustomed to doing everything myself. But forget about all that it's in the past now. I need to thank you.

"Thank me?" Oliver asked incredulously. He was fairly sure he was the one that should be thanking her.

"Yes, it was nice having you around. The friendship you've built with Felicity is amazing. The two of you work so well together. It's given me great comfort to know that when I leave here Felicity will be fine. Promise me you'll stay until she is ready to be on her own again. She doesn't realise it but she does need someone in her life."

"I promise," Oliver said.

"Good, and just for the record, if your current friendship were to turn into a relationship which turned into an engagement and marriage, I'm totally fine with that. I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law," Donna said with a small smile before turning her head to the side to look out the window. Her eyes slipped shut as she fell back to sleep. The Doctors had her on strong pain medicine now to ease the pain. She would slip in and out of consciousness.

Oliver was fairly sure from the heat he felt on his face he was blushing hard. Donna didn't need to ask him to stay. He wanted to stay. He knew Felicity was going to need him. He kissed Donna on her temple before leaving when Felicity returned to the room.

 **Sep-4**

It was September 14th at 4:12pm, when he got the call from Felicity that the Doctors said the time was near, Oliver asked Bob to let him go to the hospital. Bob closed the bar and he, Oliver, Alice and Diggle were there with Felicity when Donna passed.

It was the hardest thing Oliver had ever done. If saying goodbye had been hard for him he could only imagine what Felicity was going through. He couldn't control the tears that leaked through his eyes as the Doctors turned off all the monitors. Bob was holding Felicity as she cried.

When they reached home, Felicity didn't eat. He sat on the couch and held her while she cried.

 **Sep-5**

Oliver never realised they were Jewish until Felicity said they needed to bury Donna right away as it was custom that the burial should happen as soon as possible. There was no family or friends to fly in so Felicity was going to bury her the next day. Felicity elected to hold the service at the gravesite. Oliver hadn't realised it but Donna had given Felicity instructions on where she wanted to be buried and how she wanted to be buried. Felicity had already made the initial preparations; all that was left was for her to set the date and time.

Donna had selected a red outfit that had red sheer lace on top. It was one of her classier outfits. Donna wanted to look good, even though it was a closed casket funeral. Felicity had given the funeral home Donna's make-up to dress her up.

Oliver was surprised by how expensive a funeral was. Even though Felicity's customs dictated that the casket be simple, it was still expensive. There were no flowers allowed at the funeral and no head stone allowed yet at the burial site. She told him the head stone could be added after the morning period was over but she wanted to wait for the _Yahrzeit_ , the one year anniversary of her mother's death, to add the grave marker.

The funeral would be held in the late afternoon. Felicity had asked Oliver to be one of the pall bearers for her mother. Some psalms and scripture readings were read and Felicity gave a short eulogy that she had written the night before. The casket was slowly lowered into the grave. When the casket was at the bottom Felicity picked up the dirt at the side and threw it into the hole.

"It's a custom," she explained to Oliver.

Everyone followed after her. Once the grave was filled in, Felicity recited the _Kaddish_. Oliver thought Felicity was remarkably strong during the whole process. Had it been his mother, he would have been a wreck. He probably wouldn't have even been able to attend the funeral.

 **Sep-6**

After the burial, Felicity and Oliver returned home. It was the first day of _Shiva_ for her. He had learned that _Shiva_ was the first seven days of mourning starting on the day of burial. Felicity would say home all day and recite the _Kaddish_ prayer in the morning, afternoon and evening. He missed her at the bar that week but he knew he needed to respect her customs. Before he came to work each day, he left dinner for her. He had been watching her appetite closely and he was satisfied after it picked back up after two days. Persons were allowed to visit mourners and he knew Bob was visiting her when Oliver and Diggle were at the bar.

After _Shiva_ , was the _Sholshim_ , a 30 day period of morning that included the seven days of _Shiva_. Felicity was allowed to leave the house and restart all of her normal activities but during this period she was to avoid music, gaiety and other forms of celebrations. She chose to stay away from the bar unless she had the mini and needed to pick Oliver up.

 **Sep-7**

The bar wasn't the same without Donna. There was a certain bubbliness that was missing. Oliver found he missed hearing the juke box. Nobody had touched it since Donna was hospitalised, not even the regulars. Alice was now the senior waitress and she divided the tips evenly. Carol didn't like that. She thought since she brought in the most tips she deserved the biggest cut. She didn't see why they had to share with Diggle or Carl.

Her attitude was beginning to grate on his nerves. He felt embarrassed that she was exactly the type of girl his younger self would have been interested in, flirtatious and carefree. The Ollie of the past would have bed her on the first night she started working there. Now he tried to have as little interaction with her as possible which was extremely hard because he was the bartender and she a waitress that carried drinks to the tables.

The one thing good thing that came from Donna's illness was that Fred had taken a long look at his life and what he wanted to do with the rest of it. He proposed to Alice in Bob's office, the place where they met when she brought him a coke from the bar. He said he wanted to start a family with Alice. Donna was aware that he was going to propose and had helped him plan the surprise for Alice on that particular date. She didn't want her illness to keep anyone's happiness in the bar back. Life had to go on. Bob offered the bar for the reception and they were already thinking of a January wedding when sales in the bar were slow.

 **Sep-8**

Oliver stood in the living room, shirtless with two buckets of waters doing some bicep curls. He had purposely positioned himself so that Felicity would have a great view of him as she came out of her bedroom. She hadn't smiled in days and he wanted her to smile. Sure enough Felicity came out of her bedroom and ran straight into the sofa again.

Oliver watched amused as she spluttered with embarrassment going as far as to kick the sofa for jumping into her path. The red tinge on her cheeks told him that Felicity was going to be fine. Oliver didn't go for a run, instead choosing to get down on the floor to do some push-ups. In the reflection of the fridge he could see Felicity was watching him intently over the top of her coffee mug. He could swear the corners of her mouth were curving upwards. With his mission sort of achieved, he hit the shower.

 **Sep-9**

It was a slow afternoon; Alice had put one of the TVs on the entertainment channel. After about ten minutes the breaking news graphic appeared. Oliver wondered what celebrity was caught with their pants down this time. He was floored when the screen showed pictures of Tommy Merlyn making out with Laurel Lance at a club. Oliver blinked at the screen and pinched himself. He was definitely awake. He didn't remember having anything to drink so this wasn't a drunk hallucination.

He didn't like to use his phone at work, but it was slow and he signalled to Digg to just keep an eye on things for him while he went to the bathroom. Instead of turning into the bathroom he continued down the corridor and exited through the back door onto the street in the back. He pulled out his phone, pressing the speed dial.

"I can explain," were the first words his best friend said to him.

"Is she the mystery girl?" Oliver asked cutting straight to the point.

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Oliver knew he rather Laurel be the mystery girl than some one night stand Tommy was making of her. She deserved better than that. Oliver had already caused her a lifetime of heartache.

"Look, Tommy, its fine. I have no issues with you seeing Laurel. If Laurel is the girl that makes you happy, go for it man," Oliver said sincerely.

"I didn't want you to find out this way," Tommy said. "I swear I was going to tell you at Thanksgiving when you came home,"

"Who said I was coming home at Thanksgiving?" Oliver asked. Oliver hadn't given much thought what he wanted to do for the holiday. He wasn't sure if the bar was open. He knew he would have to work if the bar did open. He would have to ask Alice what the standing arrangement was.

"I just thought that you would," Tommy said. "Or is back-packing through Europe too good to come home for one day to see your family and friends?"

"I'll think about it Tommy," Oliver told his best friend.

"Great I'll see you then," Tommy said hanging up.

Oliver headed back inside quickly before Diggle got fed up of fending off Carl from the bar and decided to take some drastic action against the young boy. He knew Diggle was itching to straighten out the boy, they all were.

 **Sep-10**

Felicity needed the car to visit a client that night whose security server had crashed and needed her personal touch. He and Bob had just finished putting out the trash when he heard screaming in the front of the bar. He wasn't sure who was involved but he could distinctly make out Felicity's voice. He ran forward. He found Carol and Felicity shouting at each other. Carol was accusing Felicity of keeping Oliver on a tight leash preventing him from having any fun and Felicity was countering that Oliver was his own person free to do whatever he wanted and if he wanted nothing to do with her it meant he had standards. Bob walked in right as Carol said that Donna was nothing more than a dumb blonde bimbo who couldn't even stay alive.

"That is enough!" Bob shouted. No one had ever heard him raise his voice. "I will not have you openly disrespecting Donna and her daughter who are both very important parts of this family. Donna may be gone but her memory still lives on in each of us. I do not want to see you here tomorrow. Collect all of your things and go."

Oliver ignored the tears that sprang to Carol's eyes or her attempts at apology. He made a beeline to Felicity, whose eyes were shiny with unshed tears and hugged her. He took her out of the bar signalling to Diggle to lock up. Tonight felt like a mint chocolate chip ice cream night. Fortunately, he had been keeping the freezer well stocked.

Five months of the challenge had successfully been completed. He was almost half way through but it seemed so trivial compared to everything that had happened that month.


	7. October

**The Challenge**

 **An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **An:** I do not own Arrow. Thank you Laura for your review.

 **October**

Oliver knew Felicity was at a cross road in her life. Her purpose for staying in Las Vegas had been removed and she needed to decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. He knew she had contracts with the casinos for tech support. From what he understood, most of those would be up next year and she had been training IT staff at the casinos how to handle problems. Her mother's medical bills and funeral costs had eaten through most of her savings and it was the payments for on-site visits at the casinos that were keeping her afloat. Oliver had intercepted the bills that arrived at the beginning of October and paid them all, including the rent.

Oliver started cutting back on his water and energy usage. He turned off the tap when he was brushing his teeth and he made sure he only turned on the dishwasher when it was full. He turned off the television and lights when he didn't need them. Donna used to do it for him before and it had never quite clicked why she was doing it until now.

 **Oct -2**

The bar was packed in the first week of October for the World Series. His father's baseball team, the Starling City Rockets, hadn't made it to the series. He knew his father would be disappointed. His father used to take him to games when he was younger. It was one of the few times he would have his father all to himself. He knew his father would be following the games even though his team didn't make it so Oliver broke his rule about his phone usage at work and made the effort to send his father a few messages about the games as he watched them. They got into an avid debate about a call an Umpire made at third base. Oliver thought the guy was clearly in, his father disagreed. The slow motion replay revealed his father was right. He vaguely wondered if that was some sort of sign that his father was right about the Challenge too. He had reached the point where he didn't want to image what he would be doing at the moment if his father hadn't concocted this whole scheme to teach him a few lessons.

Bob pulled Oliver aside and he thought Bob was going to scold him about being using the phone but instead he told him that he had received several applications for the new waitress position. He wanted Oliver to come in at 10:00am and interview the applicants and then hire one. He was confused why Bob would want him to choose but Bob said Oliver worked with the waitresses well and knew exactly what their position entailed especially since in the absence of a second waitress it was Oliver who had to pick up the slack. He trusted Oliver to select the right person for the job.

 **Oct-3**

Oliver had twenty applications in front of him and he was supposed to interview all of them between 10 and 3. He felt like Bob had set him up for failure. There were already 8 girls seated in the bar waiting for him to interview them. The night before, Felicity had helped him research how to conduct job interviews and what sort of questions to ask the applicants. She offered to help him with the interviews as well but he had declined her help telling her that Bob had asking him to do it, so he would do it.

The first five applicants all hit on Oliver. He thought that was not appropriate behaviour for an interview so he cut them off his list. The next two girls where college graduates who were looking for jobs to tide them over until they could find something better, he crossed them off as well. He thought five of the applicants were addicts looking for a source of funds for their various habits. They were already supporting Carl, Oliver was not going to hire another one. That left him with 8 applicants to choose from.

They all needed the job but his heart kept coming back to the teenage girl who was six months pregnant. She had finished high school and was supposed to go to college but when her parents found out she was pregnant, they kicked her out and refused to help her pay for college. The father of the kid turned his back on her as well. She was staying at a friend's house at the moment but she needed a job to pay for her doctor's visits. No one else would want to employ her as in 3 months time she would need maternity leave, and they would need another employee to fill the void. Her pregnancy would also affect the amount of work she could actually do. Oliver shouldn't have asked her so many questions about her life, it would have made it easier to reject her. He looked back at the other seven but the feeling that he would not only be rejecting her but her unborn child as well, plagued him. Her struggle just reminded him so much of Donna.

At the end of the night, Bob asked him who the new waitress was going to be. He told Bob about the final applicants. He told him he wanted to hire the pregnant girl. Oliver felt it was the right thing to do. Bob's response was simple, "if it's the right thing to do then it's the right thing to do. Call her in tomorrow," And that was how a young Samantha Clayton got her job at Off the Beaten Strip.

 **Oct- 4**

Early the following week, Oliver received a call from Tommy.

"Ollie, I'm in town,"

"What do you mean you're in town?" he asked.

"I'm in Vegas. I know you're here. I want to talk to you face to face," Tommy said seriously.

"How do you know I'm in Vegas?" Oliver asked.

"I cornered your father. He spilled everything to me, once I promised not to tell anyone."

"You actually got him to tell you?"

"Hey I can be persuasive when I want to be."

"Then you know I can't be seen with you. I am going to win this challenge."

"But Ollie,"

"No buts Tommy. I'll be home next month for Thanksgiving. We can hit the town then."

"I really wanted to talk to you face to face about Laurel. I have pestered your father every day since September and its only today that I got the details from him,"

"Why didn't you just ask me where I was?" Oliver asked.

"Give me some credit Ollie, I **know** you. You would have given me the same bullshit story about Europe. I knew this 'trip' had to do with your father,"

"You were always the smarter one,"

"Yes I am so trust me when I say we should talk,"

"Tommy, I wasn't lying when I told you I was fine. You dating Laurel isn't going to be a problem," Oliver said honestly.

"Then why have I barely heard from you since you found out about Laurel?" Tommy asked.

"Because, I can't afford to talk to you Tommy. It's expensive." Oliver said frustrated. Since he paid all of Felicity's bills he had to cut back on his personal expenses which meant cutting back on his phone bill again.

"Your dad is making you pay your phone bill?" Tommy asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Oliver answered.

"That sucks man,"

"It does suck but since your phone is still paid for, I'll text you my local number here. That way we can talk longer without me getting the roaming charges."

 **Oct-5**

It was October 15th, it was the end of the _Sholshim_ period for Felicity. Oliver had been counting down the 30 day period. He asked Felicity to meet him at the bar. He wanted her to be here for this. The bar had been far too quiet. Oliver walked over to the juke box and turned on Donna's favourite song, _I Will Survive_ , by Gloria Gaynor.

"Come let's dance," he said to her holding out his hand to her. It was the first time the juke box had been turned on.

She raised her eyebrow at him, "I thought you couldn't dance,"

"I never said I couldn't, I just prefer not to," he told her.

"And what's changed your mind now?"

"Guess I haven't heard the juke box in a while and I really missed you on the dance floor," he said motioning with his hand for her to come towards him. It wasn't the best song for formal dancing but he really wanted to hold her.

He couldn't help the smile that formed when she left her stool and came over to him. Her hand slipped into his easily. He rested his hand on her waist and started to rock in time to the song. She followed him. He progressed from the rocking side to side to some more complicated dance steps. His mother had forced dance lessons upon him when he was a teenager so that he could impress at galas. He had hated every moment of it yet there was something entirely different about dancing with Felicity. He had no doubt that she would be able to follow him.

Others joined them on the dance floor and soon there was a steady stream of music from the juke box again.

"Ok, you two lovebirds break it up! Someone is supposed to be working," Bob reminded Oliver.

Both of them blushed furiously as they returned to their previous positions. For the rest of the night, Oliver could still feel a tingle in his left hand where he held Felicity's hand in his. The smell of her shampoo haunted him even as he mixed various drinks.

 **Oct -6**

Oliver made sure to put an extra effort into the breakfast the morning that Felicity decided it was time to go through her mother's wardrobe. She knew she was going to give away most of her mother's tight dresses to the poor since it wasn't exactly her style. Felicity's dresses tended to cover a bit more skin than Donna's did. They did have the same shoe size so Felicity wasn't parting with a single pair. With the exception of a few heirloom pieces, Felicity gave away her mother's jewellery. Most of it was cheap costume stuff that she wore to work at the casino. Felicity didn't want any of those pieces.

At the back of the closet she found her mother's Hanukkah decorations. She mumbled something about making sure she had her presents for Hanukkah and Christmas ready early to avoid the late shopping rush. It was then Oliver realised that he had to purchase Christmas presents for his parents, Thea and Tommy on a bartender's salary. How on earth was he supposed to get something that they would like?

 **Oct-7**

Oliver installed a pull up bar in the corridor that lead down to the bedrooms. As soon as he heard Felicity moving around in her bedroom, he timed his second pull-up to Felicity exiting her bedroom. To make her feel comfortable his back was facing her. She had a great view of his shirtless back as he pulled himself up. He had discovered that he liked to tease her. Her reactions never failed to please him. After his set was finished he jumped down and turned around as if heading to the shower.

"Morning Felicity," he greeted her brightly.

Her face was bright red and her breathing was a bit shallow. When she didn't respond, he walked closer to her, "you ok?" he asked.

There was still no response. He flicked her forehead with his index finger and she snapped out of her trance.

"Oh Oliver, hi, I think I left something in my bedroom," she said turning around and slamming face first into her closed bedroom door. "Ow," she groaned. "I swear all these inanimate objects have just suddenly started attacking me!"

Oliver chuckled before stepping into the bathroom. Perhaps he needed to stop teasing Felicity but the thought of going without seeing the pretty blush that spread across her face was unbearable. Instead he just decided to move the furniture around a bit so that she wouldn't hurt herself.

 **Oct – 8**

Felicity was seated at the bar with her usual glass of wine when an old man came in and sat next to her. He saw Felicity tense up and he was about to head over to her when she shook her head at him not to approach. After a few minutes of conversation, she told Oliver she was heading outside for a few moments and she would be back. She exited the front of the bar with the strange man. Diggle set himself up at the front window where he had a view of the two outside talking.

"I never thought I would see that bastard again," Bob said coming out from the kitchen

Oliver threw a questioning glance over his shoulder at Bob.

"Felicity's father," Bob said to him.

"Oh," Oliver said wondering if she needed him.

Ten minutes later she came back in alone visibly upset. Oliver reached out and took her hand in his, "Whenever you're ready to talk about it, I'm here. You can tell me anything." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he returned to duties.

 **Oct-9**

It was a very slow night when Oliver saw a thin man dressed in expensive clothes enter the bar followed by two men who were clearly hired muscle. Diggle had immediately followed them into the bar. Felicity was sitting at the bar babbling away about why kangaroos were scary when the men approached the bar asking for Carl. Oliver wondered if this was Carl's drug dealers. The boy had called in sick two days in a row which was unusual for Carl.

"Felicity why don't you go into the office, I need another bottle of rum," Oliver said to her. The hired muscle was eyeing Felicity like a piece of meat and whatever was about to go down, he didn't want her around.

"But you just took out a bottle yesterday?" Felicity responded clueless.

"Go to the office Felicity," Diggle encouraged her. Even the regular customers had slunk away from the bar.

Bob came through the doors from the kitchen, "Felicity, my computer's been giving me trouble, go and take a look at it and take Alice and Sam with you."

She reluctantly followed Bob's orders grabbing onto to Alice and Sam before disappearing behind the door.

"What can I do for you Anatoly?" Bob asked.

"My dear friend Bob, there is no reason to be so apprehensive. I mean you no harm. Pull out that special bottle of Russian vodka and let's have a drink," Anatoly said with a thick Russian accent.

Bob glanced at Oliver a moment before he headed back to the kitchen returning with a half full bottle of clear liquid. The old man got two glasses filling them.

"As you Americans say, cheers," Anatoly said lifting his glass.

Bob toasted with Anatoly and downed the drink in one go.

"Now that that bullshit is out of the way, what do you want Anatoly?" Bob asked the man.

"You're lucky I like you Bob. I don't appreciate people using such foul language with me. I'm looking for that little rat that you keep employed here, Carl."

"He isn't here. He's out sick."

"He owes me 10k. Tell him I want my money or he might find himself unable to work at the bar again." Anatoly stood up, looked around the bar before walking away with his goons in tow.

"This looks like it's going to be a problem," Diggle commented.

"I'll deal with it. I've handled Anatoly before. Out of his entire bunch, he's honourable. Once he gets his money, he'll back off."

"I doubt Carl has 10K lying around," Oliver pointed out.

"Don't worry about it,"

"Is he gone?" Felicity's voice floated through the slight space in the open door as she peeked out.

"Yeah you can come out now,"

"Good," she said swinging the door open to reveal the double barrel shot gun she had in her hand, Alice and Samantha behind her.

Oliver did a double take when he saw the gun. He didn't know Bob had one.

"Felicity what are you doing with my shot gun?" Bob asked.

"I thought when you sent me in here you wanted me to get it?"

"I sent you in there because I wanted to keep you safe?" Bob responded

"Yeah safe with the shotgun," Felicity responded still holding onto the gun.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Diggle asked.

"No, it can't be that hard to figure out," Felicity commented. "Point and shoot?" she shrugged.

"You would have to put shells in it first," Bob commented, "I'm not foolish enough to keep a loaded shotgun lying around,"

"Oh, you'll have to show me where you keep those then,"

"No!" the three men chorused together causing Felicity to frown.

"Is this some male chauvinistic thing because girls can use guns too you know," she replied hotly.

Bob walked up to Felicity, removing the shotgun from her hands, "don't worry about it. Go keep Oliver company, the kid looks like he's going to have a heart attack every time you point the gun in his direction."

"Oh, sorry," Felicity said sheepishly moving over the bar and jumping up on her stool.

 **Oct- 10**

Bob had come around to some of Oliver's plans and allowed him to specially promote the bar for certain occasions. As a result they received a booking to rent Off the Beaten Strip for a Halloween party. The rental fee alone was equivalent to what the bar made in a week. Bob was quite pleased with the development. Felicity was secretly gloating that she had been right about Oliver taking baby steps with Bob. Oliver however thought that Bob had paid off Carl's debt himself and he needed the extra income to replace what he spent.

In keeping with the theme everyone had to dress up in costume. It was going to be a huge party since they had booked the bar for a near capacity crowd. Oliver was concerned about Samantha. She had been doing wonderfully. She was not afraid to work despite her pregnancy. She said she didn't want any special treatment but that didn't stop any of them from helping her out. Even Carl pitched in to help her carry the heavier trays. It was going to be a lot for her so Oliver asked Felicity to help him with the bar so he would be free to dart out to the tables with some of the larger orders.

At first Oliver did not know what he wanted to dress up as. It was after staring at Felicity's Robin Hood poster on the wall that it occurred to him he could go as a modern day Robin Hood and Felicity could be his Maid Marian. He sent a quick text to Tommy to fedex him his green leather pants from the Manor. He was not wearing tights! If Tommy could manage to find it, there would also be a bow and arrow stored somewhere from Thea's archery classes at school. He just needed to source a shirt to complete his outfit. Felicity loved the idea and they went shopping together to put their costumes together.

The night of the party, Alice was dressed as a witch, Bob dressed as Frankenstien, Carl as something called an Orc from some game and Samantha settled on a Greek goddess dressed in white robes. The party was as busy as he expected but he didn't expect the anger that surged through him every time a particular vampire went to Felicity for drinks going as far as to ask if he could do shots off her neck. He was even angrier when Felicity smiled at him and politely told him no. The next shot the vampire ordered, Oliver made sure he added Tabasco to it when Felicity was distracted by another customer. The surge of pleasure he felt as the man gasped when the Tabasco burnt his throat was wonderful. Felicity however was not happy when she figured out what he did. He was subjected to her loud voice for the rest of the night but it was worth it because the Vampire didn't come around again.

He was half way through the challenge but he was too angry to even realise. Thoughts of Felicity and the vampire were plaguing his mind.


	8. November

**An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **November**

The bar had just opened and Alice had the TV above the bar on one of those entertainment channels again. Oliver was doing a quick inventory when he nearly dropped the notepad he had been holding. The television was running a feature article on Oliver Queen or more specifically the six month absence of Oliver Queen. Frantically looking for the remote, he changed the channel before anyone could see what was on. When he got home that night, he googled the show, the title of the episode was ' _Where on Earth is Oliver Queen?_ ' His lack of appearances for the last six month was raising red flags. He would have to hit the clubs when he went home for Thanksgiving to let them know he was alive and well so they wouldn't look for him. He made a mental note to get a wig with long hair. He didn't want them knowing what he looked like now.

 **Nov-2**

Oliver failed to intercept the bills before Felicity. He even tried to pay the rent but the landlord indicated Felicity had already paid for November. He decided to pay for December early. He would need to be stealthier for the next set of bills too. He refused to be a sponge and live off of Felicity's kindness. He was determined to make an equal contribution to their living arrangements. He had no immediate plans to move out. He had convinced himself Felicity still needed him.

 **Nov-3**

Following Felicity's example, Oliver decided on Christmas gifts for his family early. Since he hadn't paid any bills, he could divert those funds to gifts. Bob had once told him that sentimentality increases the value of things. He knew that Alice painted in her spare time and he asked Alice to paint a portrait of him. His mother was a fan of art so it would be the perfect gift for her. For his sister, he would give her the shawl that Juanita was working on. He had asked Juanita to personalise the item for Thea. For his father, he had done a little research on the internet and located the baseball player who hit the first homerun his father had ever seen. It was one of his father's fondest memories. The man was still alive and Oliver was going to take a wooden baseball bat and ask the man to sign it for him. For Tommy he was going to engrave a set of shot glasses with their happiest memories. He already had the inscriptions for three of the glasses written. He had also decided to get Felicity a Hanukkah gift. He knew exactly what he wanted to get her and he couldn't wait to give it to her.

 **Nov-4**

Oliver was becoming increasingly aware of the growing attraction between him and Felicity. When he was home with her he could scarcely go five minutes without wanting to touch her. Even worse, when she licked her bottom lip, he wanted to kiss her. He had said when he started this challenge that he didn't want to be involved with anyone. He had tried to bury what he felt for Felicity, to chalk it up to her being his first female friend but his feelings kept growing. He knew he wanted Felicity and he didn't just want her for one night. He wanted her much longer than that. But was it really fair to enter into a relationship with her when she didn't know who he was? If they started something he didn't want it to be based on lies but he couldn't break the terms of the challenge. Could he survive until May?

 **Nov-5**

It was Thanksgiving, he had a packed suitcase by the door, "Are you sure you will be ok?" he asked Felicity.

"I'm fine. John's estranged wife is coming. It's going to be them, Bob, Samantha and I. We'll be fine. Bob cooks a mean turkey!"

"But what about breakfast?" Oliver asked. He had zero faith in Felicity's cooking abilities.

"Oliver I survived before you, I can survive for the four days you're gone."

Bob had given him four days off for the good work he had been doing but Oliver had never felt so hesitant to leave a place before. Even at the start of his father's challenge, when he was moving to Las Vegas with no job or place to live he hadn't felt this way.

"Go Oliver, the cab is here. I don't know why you didn't let me drop you to the airport,"

They had argued for days about that but he couldn't let her know that he wasn't taking a flight. The cab would drop him at a gas station just outside the strip where the driver would meet him in a nondescript Toyota Camry. Flying would have attracted too much attention and with the news report earlier that month, he was not taking any chances.

When Oliver arrived at the manor, he was surprised by how conflicted he felt. This was his home. He had lived here most of his life and when he finished his father's challenge, he would be coming back here but he felt strangely empty as he entered. Not seeing his parents or his sister, he made a beeline to Raisa in the kitchen. The room smelt wonderful. The turkey was in one oven, a rack of lamb in the other. Oliver actually felt a bit disgusted. Some families struggled to put a turkey on the table yet his parents weren't satisfied with just turkey, there was lamb and probably two other meats as well that he hadn't seen yet. The table would be filled with more than twice the amount of food they needed. He could at least take solace in the fact that his father would donate the balance of the food to a homeless shelter in the Glades. He hadn't understood why his father did that before, but now he appreciated that his parents at least remembered others.

"Mister Oliver, don't you look handsome, you're looking much better than when I saw you for your birthday," she said hugging him strongly. She was like a second mother to him.

Oliver smiled at her. It always amazed him that she could pick up on his moods so easily.

"I'm well," he said, "but I need a huge favour,"

"Anything for you," she replied.

He handed her a list he had been compiling, "I need to learn how to cook everything on this list by Sunday,"

Raisa opened the list, "This is a lot to learn. Some of these dishes I have never cooked. These are all traditional Jewish dishes served at Hanukkah,"

"I know," Oliver said with a small smile. He had spent hours researching how Hanukkah was celebrated. He remembered a time a few years ago where his father had a Jewish businessman over and Raisa cooked speciality food for him.

"And this is for?" Raisa asked curiously.

"A friend," he said

At Raisa's look, he expounded more, "she lost her mother a couple of months ago and this will be her first Hanukkah without her. I wanted to make it easy for her,"

"She must be special,"

"She is special,"

"Very well, I'll see you in this kitchen tomorrow at 5:30am,"

"5:30am!"

"If you want to learn all of this then 5:30am,"

"Ok, I'll be here,"

He left the kitchen and headed to his bedroom. Felicity's apartment could probably fit in this bedroom. He returned his leather pants to his wardrobe and picked out a few more jeans to take back with him. He was going through his jeans fast.

He was suddenly tackled from the side, "Ollie!" a mass of brown curls said.

"Speedy," Oliver said hugging her back. He had missed his little sister.

"Why haven't you come to visit? I keep asking Dad but he said I should let you enjoy your last year of freedom."

"I'm sorry Speedy," he said. He would have liked to visit but he worked every day. There was no time to see her.

"We'll do something together at Christmas. I promise."

"Pinky swear?" she asked

Oliver laughed, "What are you five?"

His little sister crossed her hands angrily in front of her, "You've never broken a pink promise to me."

"Ok," he said holding up his little finger to hers.

"Great!" Thea said skipping off. "I'm going to go see Roy."

"Roy? Wait who's Roy? Thea, Thea," he called walking to the door to look into the corridor but his sister was long gone. Who the hell was Roy?

After his sister, he decided he may as well get the talks with his mother and father out of the way as well. He found his mother supervising the preparation of the dining table for dinner. From the amount of settings, he realised his mother had invited extra guests.

"Oh my darling boy," Moira said when Oliver drew close to her. "I hope Las Vegas has been treating you well,"

Oliver's eyes widened in surprise.

"You didn't believe your father would be able to keep your location a secret from me did you? You're just as clueless as your father is then."

"So all those things I tell you on the phone?"

"It amuses me to hear some of the stories you come up with, the sports bottle one must have been my favourite,"

Oliver rubbed his hands over his face, "that had not been the best idea," he reluctantly admitted. He had told his mother that he got his sport bottle stuck in the trash dispenser to cover the noise of the washing machine. She didn't need to know he was doing his own laundry.

"So now that you know that I know the truth, tell me about Vegas, I understand that you work at a bar."

"Yes I do,"

"Is it safe?" his mother asked.

"Yes,"

"I imagine you have plenty of drunks to deal with?"

"Sometimes, mainly when there are big parties. The regulars tend to stick to one or two drinks unless they are depressed about something."

"And you would rather do this than come to work at QC in May?" his mother pressed.

Oliver didn't even have to think about the answer, the word was slipping through his mouth, "yes"

His mother seemed disappointed in his answer. Raisa soon interrupted to inform them that the turkey was finished and that dinner could be served as soon as their guests arrived. The guests turned out to be Tommy and his father. The entire dinner Robert and Malcolm discussed business. His mind wandered to Las Vegas and what was happening at the bar. Felicity was probably babbling away, while John stood by silently listening. John's wife was also there. His friend had been very anxious. He hoped things went well for him. Samantha probably had some weird food craving. So far the weirdest had been when she wanted Bob's Buffalo wings dipped in whip cream.

After dinner, Oliver met up with his father.

"Have you been obeying all of my terms and conditions?" his father asked.

Oliver snorted, "I haven't told anyone who I really am but you've obviously been telling people where I am."

His father sighed, "Tommy can be quite persistent and manipulative when he wants to get something. He gets that from his father and your mother is a force of nature when she wants something."

"Tommy turned up in Las Vegas last month. I refused to see him."

"Good, you wouldn't want to be spotted would you?"

"No, but since you told Tommy and mom, can I tell one person the truth?" Oliver asked.

"No, the terms of the deal clearly state that you cannot tell anyone. There was nothing restricting me from sharing the information with anyone. I haven't broken the terms of this engagement," his father said.

Oliver glared.

"And how are your finances?" his father asked.

"You know I haven't touched any Queen money. I'm sure you have alerts on all of my accounts, trust fund and credit cards."

"I do," Robert confirmed.

"Good night father. I have an early day tomorrow," Oliver said walking away from him. He suddenly didn't feel like partying.

This time when he went to sleep on his bed it didn't feel as comfortable as it had in May. His whole room felt big and empty. It was missing something or as he would eventually admit to himself, someone.

 **Nov -6**

"Ok where is my best bud, it's time to party?" a suave Tommy Merlyn asked walking into the kitchen where a giddy Thea had told him her brother was camped out. Tommy looked at his friend in shock, "I don't think covering yourself in flour is a good look for the club," he deadpanned.

"Can I take a rain check?" Oliver asked. He hadn't left the kitchen all day. Some of those dishes were a lot more difficult than he thought.

"Rain check again?" Tommy asked. "You already ditched on me yesterday."

"I've been cooking all day. It's a lot more tiring than it looks."

"Mister Oliver is a wonderful cook! He learns so fast," Raisa gushed proudly.

"Cooking? Isn't this your vacation?"

"It is,"

"You promised me,"

Oliver sighed, he knew he needed to hit the town with Tommy and let the world see him.

"Ok, I'll go get dressed,"

"Excellent," Tommy beamed at him.

He shaved his face clean and sported a ridiculous wig. He looked at himself in the mirror and wondered why on earth he ever insisted on wearing his hair like that. He looked as ridiculous as the wig itself! If Felicity saw him he was pretty sure she would drop to the floor clutching her stomach in laughter.

 **Nov -7**

The club Tommy took Oliver to was a club that they used to frequent. There were plenty of models and sexy women around but Oliver ignored them in favour of sipping on his whiskey at the bar. He watched the bartenders there, work. He looked at their techniques as they mixed their drinks while he talked with Tommy. He was surprised that Laurel hadn't come but Tommy told him she was at a family retreat. They managed to keep the conversation light. Tommy eventually moved them to a quite booth in the back where he interrogated Oliver for details about what he was doing.

"You know since I started counting, that is the eighth time you've mentioned Felicity's name! And from what I gather she doesn't even work at the bar." Tommy said. "So spill who is this chick?"

"Tommy unless you want my fist to connect with your jaw, don't ever call Felicity a chick. She is so much more than a chick."

Tommy held up his hands in defense, "sorry I didn't meant anything by it but she obviously has you whipped. You've barely looked at another girl all night so who is she,"

Oliver knew the minute he said it Tommy was going to blow it out of proportion. He quietly said she was his roommate, letting the noise of the club drown out his answer.

"I didn't catch that Oliver," Tommy pushed.

"She's my roommate," he said a little bit louder.

"Roommate? Oliver Queen is living with a woman?" Tommy said.

"She's a good friend. She took me in when she didn't have to. She could have left me in the hell hole I was living in but she's not that kind of person."

"So she's just your roommate?" Tommy asked

"She's also a friend," Oliver admitted.

"Oliver Queen does not have female friends," Tommy pointed out.

"No Ollie Queen didn't have female friends but Oliver Arrow has. Alice and Samantha are also my friends. When I go back to being Oliver Queen I don't plan on giving up any of the friendships I've made so far,"

"You make it sound as if Oliver Arrow and Oliver Queen are two separate people. They are both you." Tommy pointed out.

Oliver pursed his lips, "at the moment Oliver Queen feels like an entirely different person to Oliver Arrow,"

To spare himself the torture of trying to explain the difference to Tommy, Oliver suggested they hit the dance floor. The point of the whole excursion was to be seen.

 **Nov -8**

The cab dropped him in front of Felicity's apartment complex. Oliver quickly paid the driver, grabbed his suitcase and raced forward to the door. He had this driving need within him to see Felicity and ensure she had survived his absence. It took him longer than usual to open the door. For some reason in his excitement, he couldn't get the key in the hole. He opened the door and found her seated on the sofa with her legs tucked under her and a glass of wine in her hand. Diggle and another woman he did not recognise where perched on the love seat opposite her.

"Oliver," Felicity exclaimed her whole face lighting up.

"Felicity," he said exhaling a breath he didn't realise he had been holding.

They were both openly staring at each other with dopey smile plastered on their faces. The clearing of a throat brought them back to reality.

"I see what you mean Johnny," the mysterious women said.

Felicity blushed red at the comment.

"Oliver," Digg said standing up, "this is my wife, Lyla,"

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Oliver said moving over to her to shake her hand.

"Likewise," Lyla responded.

Half an hour later, Oliver and Felicity were alone in the kitchen tidying up after the married couple had left. He opened the trash can and found a pile of take out boxes. Why was he not surprised that she had survived with take out, mainly Big Belly Burger.

"I missed this," Felicity commented.

"I missed it too," Oliver responded tying up the garbage for when the truck came around the next day.

"I said that out loud," Felicity exclaimed the familiar blush covering her features, "I didn't mean to say that out loud. It's not like I was waiting for you to come back or anything,"

Oliver closed the distance between them and cut her off by capturing her lips with his. She eagerly returned the kiss. Minutes later when they both parted, they were breathless but happy. Felicity initiated the next kiss. Soon clothes were landing on the floor and they were stumbling to the nearest bed.

Oliver managed to stop himself, hovering just above her on what was her bed. She was beautiful. Her face was flushed the way he liked it and her pupils were blown wide. He didn't want to take the next step without her at first learning a little bit of the truth, "Felicity," he said looking deep into her eyes, "Oliver Arrow isn't my real name. It's not who I am,"

"I don't care Oliver. I know who you really are," Felicity said placing her hand over his heart. She reached up and claimed his lips again. "Make love to me," she whispered against his lips. He didn't need to be asked twice.

November ended and Oliver didn't even realise another month had passed. He was too busy enjoying cloud nine with Felicity.

 **AN:** So I don't know if this is bad news or good news but the chances of me updating tomorrow are 50/50. If you don't see an update don't panic, I will update on Tuesday.


	9. December

**An:** I do not own Arrow. This is the longest chapter by far and I warn you it is overflowing with fluff and all those good Christmas feels. I think I definitely went too far over the top with this one but I can't bear to cut anything.

 **December**

On December 1st Alice declared that they were playing Secret Santa in the bar. Having never played it before Oliver was filled in on the rules. They would each draw a name and have to buy a gift for that person by December 24th when they would unveil who they got. In the mean time, the Secret Santa had to give the person they pulled a little snack or pick me up every few days.

Alice wrote their names on little pieces of paper and put it in a basket. She then asked everyone to pull a name. Oliver put his hand in praying he didn't get Carl. He was relieved when he saw Bob but then he realised he had no idea what to get the man for Christmas!

 **Dec-2**

It was the day before the start of Hanukkah. Oliver pulled Donna's box of Hanukkah decorations out and placed them on the coffee table. He wasn't sure how Felicity liked it set up. He knew that the candles for menorah were lit at dark and he would miss the lighting every night because of work. He knew that as much as he wanted to be with her every moment to help her through, there were things she would have to do on her own. Things she was would have to face. Lighting the Menorah for the first time without her for the first time was going to be the first challenge for her. He wondered how Donna did it with her before if she worked nights at the casino. Maybe she found some way to take an hour off to celebrate her faith.

When Felicity joined him, she hesitated when she saw the decorations. Oliver watched her stop and stare at the box. Felicity tended to get caught up a lot in her head. She would zone out for a minute or two before returning. He hoped she had gone to a happy place. He waited patiently for her to return.

"I suppose I should put these up today instead of the first day of Hanukkah. Mom always did it the day before Hanukkah."

She picked up a beautiful Star of David that was encrusted with jewels.

"A Jewish guest at the hotel gave my mother this. He was travelling for business but he also wanted to light a menorah but the hotel had some strict rules about lighting candles in doors. Mom brought him home and we said the prayers together. The last day of Hanukkah he sent this to her in the mail. Every year he sends her something. I remember when the Menorah came. She had always wanted a nicer one, not the cheap one we had but she couldn't afford it. She practically broke down in tears. She said his Hanukkah gifts reminded her to have faith in humanity. That even though it may not seem like it, kindness is rewarded. It made her put that little bit extra when dealing with people. I'm going to have to write to him to let him know."

Oliver didn't say anything, he just pulled her into a hug. He knew that was all the comfort she needed.

 **Dec-3**

Breakfast on the first day of Hanukkah comprised mainly of Sufganiyot, doughnuts filled with strawberry jelly. Felicity squealed with delight when she saw them. For lunch he made potato latkes. He had a whole menu planned out for each day of Hanukkah but she didn't need to know that yet. All of the food was of course kosher. He also sat and played with a dreidel with her.

"How do you know about all of these customs Oliver? You're not Jewish?" Felicity asked.

"You taught me how to use google for purposes other than searching for the latest crazy cat videos to torture Tommy with,"

Felicity smiled at him, "you never used to talk about your family or friends,"

It was true. He had never mentioned anyone. When he started the challenge he hadn't wanted his two lives to mix. He had naively thought that this year of his life would be something separate and apart from him. That he could discard whoever he met. He hadn't intended to make any friends, just to drift through the year. Now he couldn't imagine going back to being Oliver Queen and leaving all of these people out of his life. They were his friends. He was not going to forget them.

"I guess I'm more comfortable with who I am now," Oliver told her honestly. It was true. He felt more himself than he had ever felt. That didn't mean he wanted to be a bartender for the rest of his life. No he definitely wanted to go back to his life of luxury. It did suck being barely able to pay the bills. He wasn't sure yet what he was going to do with the next two years of his life after the challenge was over but he did know he wanted it to be meaningful.

 **Dec-4**

It was the last day of Hanukkah. Oliver had his gift ready for Felicity. He wanted to give it to her before he went to work. It was in a square box that he had wrapped in blue shiny paper with a beautiful white bow. She carefully unwrapped the paper before opening the box. Inside she found a silver charm bracelet with one charm on it, an arrow. He wanted to do it in platinum but he couldn't afford that. When he was Oliver Queen again, he would get her a platinum one.

"I plan to give you a new charm every year on Hanukkah," Oliver said.

"An arrow for the last name that's not your last name?" she asked.

"Yeah, I figure it would represent the start of our relationship,"

"I have a gift for you too," Felicity said, "I wasn't sure if to give it to you today or on Christmas Eve before you head home,"

"You can give it to me now Felicity," he said gently and she beamed at him.

She handed him a slim envelope. He opened it carefully and found a 3 month membership to Wilson's gym.

"Since you liked working out so much I thought you might like to go to a gym. I even convinced the owner, Slade Wilson, to give you a few one-on-one sessions. He's kind of scary. The gym is fully equipped they even have this strange thing called a Salmon Ladder. I have no idea what that is. Do you?" she fidgeted nervously as he stared at her. "Oh God you hate it!" Felicity cried.

Oliver pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She could have gotten him a tie and he would still love it because it came from her. He was almost late for work that day.

 **Dec -5**

The doorbell rang a few days later. Oliver reluctantly left Felicity on the couch to answer the door. After checking to make sure his clothes didn't look too dishevelled, he looked through the peephole and was surprised by who was on the other side of the door. He opened it quickly and stepped outside of the apartment.

"Thea! What are you doing here?" Oliver said through gritted teeth.

"I'm here to visit you. You promised we could do something at Christmas. Well I'm here," his sister said.

"How did you find me?" he asked her. Had his father told yet another person.

"The mailing address you gave Tommy,"

"He gave you that information!" Oliver said in disbelief. He would have to talk to Tommy about flapping his gums.

"I found the pants for him. He owed me."

"Do Mom and Dad know you're here?"

"Of course, I didn't runaway if that's what you want to know. I told them I would spend the beginning of my vacation with you and then we would both come home for Christmas. I've missed you Ollie,"

"Oliver?" Felicity said as she opened the door to see what was keeping him. She was surprised to find him there with a young teenage girl.

"Hi, I'm Thea, Oliver's younger sister," she said sticking out her hand to the blonde.

"Hi Thea," Felicity said shaking her hand, "I'm Felicity, Oliver's roommate."

"Roommate, I thought you were his girlfriend,"

"Speedy," Oliver said warningly. He knew his sister could be very nosy.

Unaffected by her brother she turned around to stare at him with her hands on her hips, "well? Is she or isn't she? You didn't get that lipstick on your neck by accident!"

Felicity herself seemed to be waiting for Oliver's answer. They had not discussed if they were going to use the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend. There was no denying that from the moment they kissed their relationship progressed quickly and they woke up every morning a tangled mess of limbs.

"No," Oliver admitted looking Felicity in her eyes. "Felicity is more than my girlfriend. She is my partner in every way possible."

Felicity beamed at him. He could tell she wanted to kiss him but she was weary of his little sister's presence.

"So can I come in?" Thea asked.

"Yes of course!" Felicity responded opening the door wider.

 **Dec-6**

After they settled Thea into what was Felicity's old room, and Oliver gave her a gentle reminder that he was Oliver Arrow so she had to be Thea Arrow, they relaxed in the living room while Felicity dealt with a client.

"So where's the party tonight?" his sister asked him.

"Nowhere," he replied.

"You not partying" his sister commented in disbelief.

"Do you even know why I am here?" Oliver asked her.

"Some deal with dad," Thea responded.

"It's a challenge and I'm going to win. I cannot be caught partying," Oliver told her.

"So don't get caught partying," Thea said with a mischievous smile.

"That is not the point. I have work," Oliver said firmly.

"So skip work. It wouldn't be the first time, you skipped out on something," his sister pointed out.

"No it wouldn't," he admitted, "but it wouldn't be the right thing to do,"

"Since when do you do the right thing?" she asked curiously.

Oliver couldn't believe his sister asked him that. Had he truly been a poor example to her? Were some of her rebellious issues because of him?

"Since now Thea. The people at the bar rely on me and I am not letting them down," he told her.

"You work at a bar. How fitting!" Thea commented.

"You know what, why don't you come. You can help out Sam,"

"Is Sam cute?" Thea asked.

Oliver smiled devilishly, "Very cute,"

 **Dec-7**

When Thea arrived at the bar she scrunched up her nose in disgust. It wasn't like the chic places she was accustomed to. He already had to glare at his sister when she made a face at Felicity's mini cooper. He was tempted to make her walk to the bar so she would appreciate any form of transport.

"And who is this?" Bob asked.

"This is my baby sister, Thea. Thea is this my boss, Bob,"

Thea let out a laugh, "That's funny,"

Bob gave her a strange look. Oliver pulled her away from Bob immediately.

"What is so funny about my boss?" Oliver hissed.

"You have huge issues with working for dad yet you work at a bar for a man named Bob, which is a common nickname for Robert! How is that not funny?" his sister asked him.

When Thea put it like that he could certainly see the irony of the situation.

"So do I get to pour drinks?" Thea asked excitedly.

"Absolutely not! You are not 21, Bob could lose his license. You're not even 18. You can help serve food,"

"This is not how I saw myself spending my Christmas break," Thea sulked.

"You wanted to come here," Oliver reminded her.

"Ah there's Sam," Oliver said. Thea perked up until she realised that Sam was a pregnant teen barely a year older than her.

At the end of the night, Thea collapsed exhausted on the couch. She didn't have the energy to make it to the bedroom. Oliver chuckled but took pity on his sister and gently lifted her up as if she were still three and took her to his old room. He tucked her in like he used to do when she was younger.

"It's not funny," Thea pouted.

"That was a slow night Thea," he told her.

"Really?" she groaned.

"Don't worry about it. We'll be leaving on Christmas Eve,"

 **Dec-8**

Thea and Sam had bonded quickly. The two were always giggling. Sam had told Thea she was having a boy and would let her touch her belly every time her baby kicked. His sister squealed every time she felt a kick against her palm. Oliver wondered if his sister wasn't taking the situation seriously. He chose to discuss it with her on the way home from the bar that night.

"Thea you understand that Sam is by herself, that the father of her baby and her parents all abandoned her? he asked. "It's not all giggles and smiles,"

"Of course I do. It doesn't mean I have to remind her of it all the time by being sorry for her. Why can't she just try and enjoy being pregnant like normal mothers. Stress is bad for a baby," Thea said.

"As long as you don't think of having one too soon," Oliver said.

"Don't worry, Roy and I are careful," Thea said absently.

"There's that name again. Who's Roy?" Oliver asked.

"My boyfriend," Thea responded.

"What! You're too young to have a boyfriend," Oliver said and he saw Felicity flinch in the driver's seat.

"Excuse me, Mr. I had my first girlfriend at 13," Thea responded angrily.

"That was not a real relationship," he pointed out.

"So you didn't sleep with her,"

Oliver flinched when Thea said that. He hadn't discussed his relationship history with Felicity and he was afraid that she would look at him differently when she discovered he had been a man whore.

"Sex with someone doesn't make it a relationship Thea,"

"I know that, it seems like it took you 14 years to figure that out!"

Oliver was about to respond when Felicity declared they were home. Thea jumped out of the car and headed to the apartment. Oliver was about to get out and follow behind her when Felicity put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Oliver I know she's your baby sister. I know I can't really judge because I'm an only child but you need to understand that she's growing up and a boyfriend at 17 isn't the end of the world. You need to be thankful that's she's being open and honest with you. You don't want to push her away. You always want an open line of communication. If she's ever in trouble you want her to come to you. It's her life, her decisions. You can't control that. You can only give her advice and hope she follows it."

Oliver nodded and got out of the car. His sister was waiting in front of the door for them to open up. Oliver tried to talk to her but she ignored him walking to her room.

 **Dec – 9**

Alice and Felicity were planning a baby shower for Samantha. Thea happily joined in on the party planning. It was going to be held at the bar form 12:00pm -3:00pm after Christmas. Samantha was due the following week. Party goers that didn't work at the bar were welcomed to stay and enjoy the atmosphere. Felicity was handling the budget and the collection of contributions. Alice was handling the decorations. Felicity had placed Oliver in charge of the party menu. He and Bob were going to cook the food. Carl was going to serve it. Oliver was also working behind the bar to serve non-alcoholic drinks. He started experimenting with a variety of fruit smoothies in preparation for the shower.

His sister volunteered to contact Samantha's friends and relatives to invite them to the shower. Oliver had no objection to that. Their father was still paying her phone bill and it gave her something to do to stay out of trouble or at least so he thought. Thea was mad as hell after she got off the phone with Sam's parents. She couldn't understand what type of parent abandons their child when they need them the most. Oliver snorted and his sister glared at him. She then said she was stepping out for a little run around the block to blow off steam. Oliver offered to go with her but she reminded him that she was a big girl.

An hour later, after Oliver had practically paced a hole in the carpet with worry over her absence, Thea walked in with a very satisfied smile. He knew that smile.

"What did you do?" he asked hesitantly.

"I found Samantha's parents and I gave them a very stern talking to,"

"Speedy, I thought I told you not to interfere in Sam's life,"

"I couldn't sit back and watch her go through this by herself! She's terrified and I would be terrified to be out on my own too," Thea admitted.

"You'll never be on your own Speedy. I will always be there for you," Oliver told her softly. He couldn't ever imagine turning his back on his sister.

"You promise?" she asked him quietly.

"Pinky promise," Oliver said holding out the little digit.

She smiled brilliantly at him as she raised her pinky finger to his. He pulled her into a hug, "I love you speedy,"

"I love you too, Ollie,"

 **Dec-10**

It was Christmas Eve, Oliver and Thea were going home that night after Oliver's shift at the bar. Before they left for the bar, Thea wanted to give Felicity the gift she had bought for her. She presented her with a garment bag decorated beautifully. Felicity carefully zipped it open and pulled out a delicate blue dress.

"Its couture," Felicity exclaimed holding the material against her cheek.

"Yes, I saw it in a boutique in one of the hotels on the strip and I thought it was perfect for you."

"Thank you so much," Felicity said embracing Thea.

Oliver was relieved that she didn't ask how his sister, who was a high school student, could afford couture.

"I got you something as well Thea," Felicity revealed. She pulled out a square box that was neatly wrapped in Christmas paper. Thea tore the paper off the gift to reveal a tablet.

"It's not a normal tablet. I tweaked it a bit for you. It also has icons that you can tap to call Oliver or me automatically. I also downloaded some of your favourite games you like to play on your phone on here."

"You didn't need to do this. You already opened up your house to me and drove me around," Thea said.

"I wanted to," Felicity said hugging Thea. She then whispered in her ear, "have patience with your brother, he only wants what is best for you."

"I promise I'll go easy on Oliver," Thea said loud enough for her brother to hear.

Oliver gave her a curious look but Thea just stuck her tongue out at him, "Come on we need to get to work early today. You guys have that gift exchange thing," Thea said dragging her brother out of the apartment.

 **Dec-11**

They all met at the bar at 2:00pm. Alice decided to go first. She had pulled Diggle. She honestly had no idea what to get him because she said Diggle was always so quiet and reserved so she bought him a gift certificate to the mall that he could use in any shop. He thanked her. It was Diggle's turn to present his gift. He had pulled Oliver. He bought him a profession chef knife set.

"Thanks man, strangely I love it," he said. The knives in Felicity's apartment weren't as sharp as Bob's and he had been known to complain about it. It was very expensive and he wondered how Diggle had sourced the cash for it.

It was Oliver's turn to go next.

"I drew Bob but I didn't get you a present," he said

"Oliver!" Alice reprimanded immediately, "the rules clearly state that..."

Oliver stopped her, "I didn't get him a present that I could wrap but I thought a lot about what you might like and I did something else."

Oliver walked to the front of the bar and opened the door letting in two women in their forties.

"Hello dad," both women said.

"My girls!" Bob said. He hadn't seen them in close to a decade. There was a disagreement, Oliver didn't know what about but he knew Bob regretted the distance between him and his children so with Felicity's help he tracked them down and convinced them to come home for Christmas. It had been a lot harder than he thought. At one point he thought might have to run out last minute and pick up a gift but the girls managed to agree to talk to their father again and settle whatever dispute it was they had.

The rest of the gift exchange went off without a hitch and Bob retreated to his room in the back with his daughters. They emerged hours later all smiles. Whatever it was that had put the wedge between them, it didn't seem to matter anymore.

 **Dec-12**

It was Christmas morning and Thea was anxious to open her presents. Oliver was nervous. He didn't know if they would like his gifts. First up was Thea. She got a new designer hand bag and a string of pearls with the accompanying earrings from their parents. Next was his gift. The package was small and delicately wrapped, something Felicity had helped him with. His sister tore it open with gusto to reveal the shawl.

"It beautiful Ollie," She said in awe.

"It's handmade by Juanita. She sew your name into it too. You have to hold it at just the right angle to see it in the pattern."

"I love it," she told him.

"You sure?" he asked. It wasn't designer or brand name.

"I do,"

Next up was Oliver himself. Thea had gotten him an expensive cologne she said would make Felicity climb him like a tree. Oliver blushed. His parents had given him the keys to a brand new BMW that would be waiting for him when he came home in May.

His mother was after him. Thea gave her a gift certificate to her favourite spa, which was also the same thing Robert got her. Both Thea and Robert accused the other of stealing their idea.

"Did you get me a gift certificate too?" she asked Oliver.

"No," he said handing her the wrapped painting.

She opened it carefully, "Oliver this is exquisite,"

She walked over to the mantel place and removed the portrait of Robert that was there, had been there for nearly thirty years.

"Hey," Robert protested.

"You can hang it in your office," Moira commented.

She placed the picture of Oliver behind the bar with a drink in his hand over the fire place. It was a relief he didn't have to make up a story about it.

Finally it came to his father's Christmas gift. Thea had brought him an expensive cologne and Moira gave him a new tailor made suit made from the finest silk. Next up was Oliver's bat. To disguise what it was, Oliver had taken two boxes from the bar and placed on at each end of the bat and taped up the middle. It looked like a really big box but it was light. He watched as his father shook it but Oliver made sure to jam the bat in diagonally so it couldn't move. His father stared at the gift curiously.

"You don't have X-ray vision dad, just open it," Oliver said.

His father tore open the paper, and pulled the boxes apart to reveal the bat. It wasn't until he read the inscription on the bat did Robert full appreciate the gift. It was the first time in Oliver's life that he felt like he had pleased his father, like he had finally done something right. It was a great feeling, much better than being a screw up.

At Christmas Dinner, it was the four of them plus Tommy. Malcolm was away on business. Thea enchanted them with tales from her Las Vegas adventure. She surprised everyone further when she said she wanted to finish off her holidays with Oliver. It was much better than Thanksgiving where business dominated the conversation. Oliver didn't know if it was the changes in him that made it feel different or if in fact the atmosphere was different but it felt they were truly one family.

 **Dec -13**

Boxing Day found Oliver invading his father's study while he waited for Thea to come back from the shopping spree he went on with his mother. He had already called Bob to let him know he was going to be late for work. The old man didn't mind. He told him he could take his time.

He didn't know why he came into the study. He supposed he wanted to see what it felt like to sit behind the desk now. He had done it before many times, usually to mock his father. He wandered if it would feel different this time. If with his new found maturity he might find greater respect for his father.

His father had left his e-mail open and he saw a message from a John Diggle. He thought there was no way it could be the same John Diggle. He clicked on it. It was a full report of what Oliver had been up to that week. There were 35 e-mails from Diggle to his father, all weekly reports. Whatever he had been feeling for his father turned sour immediately. Oliver knew he didn't have time to read them all before his father returned. He opened each one and hit print. He would read them in his room, away from his father.

After reading through the documents Oliver couldn't believe he was so clueless. Diggle had been with him through every step of the journey and he never realised it. The man had been in the hotel room next to his, the apartment below him in the death trap and then his current apartment building. Diggle's apartment even had a clear view of where he lived now. His so called friend had even been following him on runs. How Oliver never noticed the tall black guy with arms the size of dumbbells following him around, he did not know.

 **Dec –14**

Thea packed bags of stuff into the trunk of the Toyota Camry that was taking them back to Las Vegas.

"What is all of that?" Oliver asked.

"Just stuff for the shower and some baby stuff that Samantha is going to need that none of us thought of. Mom was a real help with trying to figure out what would be a good gift for Samantha. She really put in perspective what Samantha might appreciate the most," Thea said. "Mom made taking care of a baby sound so hard and she had several nannies and a night nurse to help her!"

Oliver smiled at his sister. She was learning things so much faster than him. She was always the shining star of the Queen family. Oliver could admit now that a small part of him had always thought that Thea had it easier than him. She didn't have the burden of trying to fulfil their parent's goals to take over QC one day. His thoughts soon jumped to his father and he pushed them away.

Once they were in the car, Thea asked the driver pull into the Glades on their way out of the city. Oliver looked at her curiously.

"We're going to see Roy. I have to give him his present," Thea said.

"Roy lives in the Glades?"

"Yes,"

"And how exactly did you meet Roy?" he asked.

She chewed on her bottom lip hesitantly.

"Thea?"

"He may have stolen my purse,"

"He stole your purse and you chose to date him?" Oliver asked incredulously.

"That sounds like judgement," Thea said crossing her arms.

"Concern," Oliver corrected her, "You're 17 and you're dating a thief,"

"I don't know why I ever told you about him,"

Felicity's advice echoed in his brain.

"Look, I'm trying here Thea. I am glad you told me about him," Oliver said "I'm ready to meet him"

Thea watched her brother skeptically, "Ok we're here," she said instructing the driver too pull over in front of a small house.

Oliver surveyed the house closely as they walked up to the front door. The old him would have judged it. He would have taken one look at the house and told Thea "HELL NO!" before pulling her kicking and screaming back into the car.

The door opened and a young boy a few years older than Thea, in a red hoodie stepped out.

"Thea," he asked surprised, "How many times do I have to tell you it is dangerous out here. Call me and I'll come to you,"

That was something Oliver agreed with 100%. The boy appeared genuinely concerned with Thea's safety which was something he approved of.

"I'm not alone," Thea said nodding her head towards Oliver.

"I noticed. I would have to be blind to miss your body guard,"

"He's not my bodyguard, he's my brother, Oliver,"

Roy instantly straightened, eyes going wide.

"I thought he was in Vegas,"

"You told him I was in Vegas?" Oliver turned to his sister.

"He can be trusted," she told him before turning back to Roy "He's come home for Christmas and we are on way back but first I wanted to give you your Christmas gift," she said handing him a gift bag.

"I got you something as well, I would invite you in but I don't want to horrify you with the way the poor live," Roy said closing the door.

Oliver didn't comment on the boy's rudeness. They waited patiently until the door opened and Roy gave Thea a badly wrapped present. They opened the presents together, Thea had brought Roy a grey hoodie since she claimed the only colour he knew was red. She knew well enough not to buy him brand name clothing as that might attract some unwanted attention towards him. Thea received a jewel encrusted butterfly hair pin.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Is it stolen?" Oliver couldn't help but asked.

Both of them glared at him.

"I do not give your sister stolen items. She deserves better than that," Roy said. "The stones aren't real obviously but it reminded me of Thea,"

"We need to get going," Oliver said looking at the time on his cell phone.

"Oh don't min him. He's got to rush to get back to his wifey,"

"Wifey?" Oliver spluttered, his eyes opening wide.

Thea rolled her eyes at her brother, "what else do I call the woman who takes expert care of you? Now go back to the car so I can kiss my boyfriend goodbye in peace."

Oliver glared at his sister before walking back to the car. He was going to give her exactly 30 seconds before he interrupted them.

 **Dec-15**

The driver dropped them off on the strip as usual and then they caught a cab to Felicity's apartment. He helped Thea bring all her bags inside and kissed Felicity deeply before he left the women to chat about the shower. He walked down to Diggle's apartment complex instead. He walked up to the door and banged on it. Lyla answered it.

He put on his fake smile for her,

"Hi Lyla, is Diggle home?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yes, come on in," she said.

"No I rather talk to him here," Oliver replied.

Lyla frowned for a second before going in search of her husband. A few seconds later Diggle appeared by the door.

"Welcome back," John said

Oliver decked him. "I trusted you, I thought you were my friend, not a spy for my father."

He threw the pages at the Diggle's feet. "Stay away from me and Felicity,"

 **Dec-16**

The baby shower wasn't very crowded. Most of Sam's friends were in college and even though they were home for the holidays they didn't want to be associated with her. Two friends, one of whom was the one she was staying with, Mellie and Mellie's mother, Lisa came. A close cousin also came, ignoring the fall out it was going to cause in the family. Oliver saw more baby clothes than he had ever seen in his life. There was a crib the girls had put together to buy. Thea had brought a stroller she claimed was donated by their mother since a high school student was not really supposed to have plenty money. There were bottles, bibs, onsies, shoes, socks, blankets and items he did not want to identify.

He focused on his duties at the bar and only tuned in to hear him praise the food he and Bob had prepared for them. Lisa came over to speak to Oliver "Thank you for hiring her. She's been looking for a job since August. She's a good kid that made one mistake. I wish her parents could see passed it. She was raised in a strict catholic household. They think she's a bad example for her younger siblings. I'm hoping that perhaps once the baby is born and Sam settles into a routine, that she could take some classes at the community college before work. I'm hoping she can get her life back on track."

"I'm sure she can. She certainly has a lot of support here. Bob's a good guy with a kind heart and a penchant for taking in people who need help."

"Bob wasn't the one that hired her. You were. You have a kind heart just like Bob," Lisa said taking her drink and rejoining the girls.

Oliver let her words sink in before he noticed Diggle enter. He was expecting the man to quit right away once had had been discovered as his father's watchdog but he was still there. Maybe he was working out the month. He would see what would happen in January.

 **Dec-17**

The New Year's Eve party at the bar found Felicity behind the bar helping Oliver again. It was even more fun now because he had taken to purposely touching her every time they passed each other in the bar. The message was clear, when they got home he was having his way with her. At midnight, he dipped Felicity and kissed her thoroughly until the whoops and cat calls got too loud to continue. This was the first time, in a very long time, that he had brought in the New Year's sober

The year had finished and if someone had asked Oliver at the beginning of the year where he would be, he would have never thought that he would be working in a bar and in a relationship with the most wonderful woman he had ever met. For the first time in a very long time, he was excited for what the New Year held.


	10. January

**An:** I do not own Arrow. Sorry about yesterday. Oh and thank you to all the guests that reviewed, Krissie, Ann and Laura.

 **January**

Carl's screams were louder than Samantha's.

"I think that was your best idea yet sending him into hold her hand," Diggle commented to Oliver.

Oliver ignored Diggle instead choosing to look down at the angry red mark around his own hand where Samantha had been squeezing it as if her life depended on it.

"Well it was his turn," Felicity said for Oliver.

Samantha's water broke just after she reached home on January 1st. She had been in labour six hours. The good news was that she was having a New Year's Baby. There were many companies donating a ton of baby hampers for babies born on January 1st. Samantha really needed that help.

Felicity, Thea and Alice were anxiously waiting with them outside the delivery room since only one person was allowed at a time in the room. The girls insisted they needed to be there with her in case there were complications. Someone who wasn't in pain would have to advise her on a decision. Her parents were still absent. Mellie and Lisa were also anxiously waiting with them.

The screaming stopped, replaced with the cries of a new born. Carl flew out of the room, "It's here, anybody got ice?" he said holding up his hand.

Soon the nurses had the baby cleaned up and after a few minutes with his mother he was wheeled to the nursery accompanied by everyone but Lisa. Having given birth herself, Lisa knew well enough, that the process did not end when the baby popped out. Samantha would need to deliver the after birth now. If there were tears, Samantha would also need stitches before they moved her to recovery.

 **Jan-2**

After Samantha had gotten a little cat nap, everyone was allowed to visit her and the baby.

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" Thea gushed. Oliver gave her a warning look. He did not want his sister knocked up so early in life.

"You know I thought you would have been in this room a lot sooner. What took them so long to move you here?" Thea asked curiously.

"I needed stitches, which really sucks because now the hospital bill is going to go up!" Samantha commented.

"Stitches?" Oliver stupidly asked.

"I remember when Gloria had our second daughter," Bob started, "she was born with her hands on her head. Caused a few tears on the way out. Gloria was there for an hour while the doctor clamped off a bleeder and stitched her up. She couldn't sit properly for weeks,"

"Oh God, I am never having children," Felicity declared horrified at the thought of sitting on that table with her legs spread wide as a stranger stitched her up.

"Agreed," Thea said.

The nurse in the room laughed, "I if I got ten dollars for every time I heard a woman say that after she was told about the intricacies of giving birth, I would be rich!"

"Then why do it?" Felicity asked.

"Because you get a baby at the end, duh!" the nurse said. "Look when you hold them for the first time it makes it worth it. You have this perfect little innocent human being. It's an amazing feeling until they turn into teenagers and then you wonder where the hell my little baby went,"

"Have you decided on his name yet?" Bob asked Samantha.

"Yes, William Oliver Clayton,"

Oliver was stunned. Everyone in the room looked proudly at him.

"I hate to burst your bubble kid but work is starting in a few minutes and we need to hire a temporary waitress," Bob said.

"I want to come back to work as soon as possible. I can't afford maternity leave. Tips pay for diapers," Samantha said.

"You got a hamper to supply you with baby items for the first month," Oliver pointed out.

"and you need to rest and bond with your baby. Who's going to take care of William at night?" Bob asked.

"Who's going to feed us? I can't burden Mellie's parents. You had children Bob, you know the strain a baby can add to a family."

Bob appeared to think it over.

"Ok but only after one month has passed. You can bring the baby, we'll set up a crib in my living room and I'll put the baby monitor in the kitchen where it's quiet."

"We can also put one at the bar since someone isn't always in the kitchen. I can programme a light to flash when William is crying. Depending on what he needs, if you're busy with customers someone else could attend to him.

"Thank you," Samantha said.

"I still need someone for a month," Bob said.

"I can fill in for you," Felicity offered.

"Are you sure?"

"I kind of want to see what it was like to walk in my mom's heels. Maybe I'll appreciate her sacrifices for me more,"

"What about your IT clients?" Bob asked.

"I've made them almost entirely self sufficient now. I get the odd call here and there but I mostly have nothing to do but sit and think all day,"

"Ok," Bob said, "But just cause you're Donna's daughter, don't think I'm going to go easy on you. You've spent enough time at the bar to know the way things work there."

Later that night when they got home, Felicity collapsed on the couch with Thea.

"I'm totally wearing my panda flats tomorrow. How on earth did my mother do this all day?"

Oliver laughed. He picked his sister up first and then came back for Felicity a few moments later.

 **Jan –3**

Oliver realized that he and Felicity were living together in a very serious relationship and they had never had a date. Part of that realisation might have come from his sister when she was asking how they met and where their first date was. When there was no answer to the first date part, his sister went on a three hour long tirade that Oliver needed to rectify that immediately. She gave him one week to fix the problem. She reminded him that Felicity was one tap away on her tablet and she would be talking to Felicity quite frequently because Queens sucked at math.

He couldn't do dinner because he had to work every night so he had settled on lunch. Miguel had told him of a nice Mexican restaurant 60 miles south. After dropping his sister off on the Strip where the limo driver was waiting to take her back to Starling City because school was about to start, Oliver drove down to the restaurant to check it out. They did both take-out and dine in services. He brought some take out and took it back for Felicity to try. She loved it. He called the restaurant right away to make a reservation for lunch. He told Felicity to block off three hours of her time, he was taking her on their first date. She beamed at him, and he may have noticed her sneak off with her tablet to talk to Thea in their bedroom.

 **Jan –4**

"This is our first date," Oliver said a bit nervously. He had already ordered a stiff drink to help him calm his nerves. They were seated at a table he specifically requested. It was near a window and it looked out onto the dessert. The restaurant wasn't very crowded so he expected the service to be fast.

"I know but we've exhausted every possible topic for a first date. In fact I've seen you naked, every day naked," she said flushing.

The waiter interrupted them with their drinks and the menu. Oliver took the opportunity to practice the Spanish he had been learning from Miguel and order their food.

"Are you sure you know what you ordered for us?" Felicity asked him

"I'm sure," be grinned at her. He had always liked languages. It was something that came naturally to him and the only time he felt intelligent. He had spent six months with his father in China when his father was setting up a subsidiary there. It had been an internship that he got credit for in College. He had learnt enough Mandarin that he could converse on the street with an absolute stranger. He had then spent another six months is Russia after he graduated where he also learned enough Russian to make his way around without people picking up on the fact that he was a tourist.

Felicity looked seriously at Oliver, "I think it's time to clear the air Oliver,"

Oliver found his happy mood suddenly taking a nose dive.

"I've decided what I want to do with my life Oliver," Felicity revealed.

He looked at her seriously. He would not interrupt her. He would let her say what she needed to say.

"I started applying to tech companies in Starling City. I want to be involved in cutting edge research. I'm kind of tired of my work just being used to keep hackers out of casinos. I want to know my work is being used to help better people's lives. Queen Consolidated is starting up a Cyber Security Unit. I was thinking of applying. It would be a great opportunity because the company is so big, I'm sure there will be instances where I could work on other projects within the company,"

"Diggle told you?" Oliver said bitterly.

"Diggle didn't tell me anything. Whatever is going on between you two is for you two to work out," Felicity told him.

"Then how do you know?" Oliver asked her.

"My mother's favourite channel was anything that had gossip, particularly celebrity gossip. You always knew who was watching TV last by the channel it was on. If you turned it on and found Syfy then I was the last person watching TV. If you turned it on and were bombarded with a headline of Oliver Queen peeing on a cop car, then it was my mom who watched the TV last. I distinctly remember the peeing incident. On a side note promise me you won't grow your hair long during out relationship. But Thea's appearance really confirmed that you are in fact Oliver Queen."

Oliver let out a breath of relief when Felicity referred to their relationship in the present tense. He was afraid she was going to be angry with him. "I promise but why didn't you say anything before?"

"We figured you had your reasons why you wanted to be Oliver Arrow and not Oliver Queen. Mom said to give you time, that we needed to respect whatever it was that you were going through but I ran out of patience and I just wanted you to know that I know and I understand," she said reaching for his hand and squeezing it lightly.

"There is a reason. I promise I will tell you everything in May,"

"That's when you go back?" Felicity asked hesitantly.

"Yes,"

She took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eye. He knew she was laying everything on the table, "I want to go with you,"

"I wasn't going to leave unless you were with me," he admitted.

She gave him a brilliant smile.

This was the beginning of planning a future together.

 **Jan -5**

They were nearing the middle of January and the weather was cold. Throwing off his hoodie when he got home he found Felicity on the couch talking to Thea about algebra. From the background he could tell his sister was in the cafeteria and she was probably trying to get last minute homework done before heading to Mr. Jacobs class after lunch. The man was a stickler for submitting homework on time, even if it was a blank piece of paper, you had to submit something to be graded. He waited almost half an hour before Felicity was able to give him her attention. He wasn't sure he liked sharing her with his sister. He loved Thea, but Felicity was his and she was the one thing in his life he was going to be very mean about sharing with anyone.

"Stop pouting Oliver!"

"I wasn't pouting!"

She rolled her eyes at him, "How was the gym?

"It's was great! Slade put me on the salmon ladder today?"

"Oooooh what does that thing do?" she asked like a little child in a candy store.

"It's a total body workout. Why don't you come to a yoga class and I'll show you right afterwards."

"Yoga?" Felicity said scrunching up her face.

"Yes a little physical exercise to stay healthy," Oliver said to her.

"But I thought you gave me all the physical exercise I need?" Felicity purred.

"As much as I enjoy that type of physical exercise, it's good to throw in a little variation. It'll be fun I promise," he said.

"I don't think me tripping over my feet in front of everyone is fun," Felicity deadpan.

"You won't trip over your feet. Shado is an excellent instructor. Slade has me doing one class with her a week to increase my range of motion. You don't have to be a member of the gym to participate in her class. She has quite a loyal following that come specifically for her classes."

"Oliver Queen," she said crossing her hands over her chest but he could see that the the corners of her lips were threatening to tug upwards, so he knew she wasn't serious, "are you checking out the yoga instructor,"

"No! Are you crazy, Slade would drop the hundred pound weights on my head! Shado is his wife. There are rumours that the last two guys that looked at her the wrong way disappeared without a trace."

"Hmmm," she said pretending to think over what he said, "I'm not sure, perhaps you'll have to convince me in our bedroom?" she said.

"I can definitely to do that," Oliver said chasing after her as she ran giggling down the corridor to their room.

 **Jan-6**

Oliver was busy practicing the signature drink he developed for Alice's wedding. When he sensed someone approach the bar, he looked up to ask the customer what they wanted but his jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Laurel!" he asked in disbelief once he could get his jaw working again.

"Hi Oliver," she said calmly. She didn't sit on the bar stool.

"What are you doing here?"

"Thea sent me to talk to a Samantha Clayton. She wanted me to give her advice regarding her legal rights to child support from the baby's father."

"Thea told you!"

"That you're Oliver Arrow here, yeah,"

He couldn't believe that his family couldn't keep their mouth shut. His father had told Tommy and his mother. Tommy had told Thea. Thea had told Roy and Laurel. Quite frankly he was lucky the National Enquirer didn't know yet.

"This is not fair. I am not allowed to tell anyone anything but my Dad can and anyone he tells can spread the word as well."

"When you think about it, it's a great lesson for you," Laurel said.

"How so?" Oliver asked skeptically.

"Because now you know when you enter into a deal, you not only pay attention to the terms and conditions that regard you but you also pay close attention to the terms and conditions that the other party is subject to. If you had told your father from the very beginning that you wished for him not to reveal the details of your arrangement to anyone or else he would be in violation of the deal if he did, then I wouldn't be here."

Oliver glared at her.

"My father started this challenge why would he not conform to the rules he set out."

"That is an assumption Oliver. If you wanted to ensure that your Dad would not tell anyone, you needed to insist upon it. You can't expect people to read your mind in a deal. That's what contracts are for. To specifically lay out the terms and conditions under which you and the other party are to operate. Did you not learn any of this in business school?"

"I might have slept through that class," Oliver admitted.

Laurel sighed, "So where is Samantha?"

"If Thea was paying proper attention she would have remembered that Samantha was on maternity leave,"

"Yes Thea is aware of that, it's why she asked your girlfriend to ask Samantha to come to the bar today. We are supposed to be meeting now,"

Oliver looked up at Laurel, this was the first time he was hearing about this. He would have liked a huge heads up that his ex-girlfriend was about to meet his current partner. He was definitely going to make time tomorrow to talk to his sister about this.

The door opened and Samantha walked in with William in the stroller. Alice called Felicity out of the kitchen so that they could coo over the baby. He watched Alice pick William up, cradling him the way the nurse had taught them in the hospital. She then offered him to Felicity. He could tell his girl panicked. From the hand gestures he was sure she was telling them that she might drop him. Alice ignored her and soon William was nestled against Felicity. Something inside of him warmed as he watched Felicity with the little baby. He could see it clearly in their future, Felicity holding their son that way. It wouldn't be in their immediate future but he could feel it was coming in a few years. What surprised him was there was no panic when he thought of children with her. There was only happiness.

Laurel walked over and introduced herself. Samantha sat in a corner with Laurel while Alice and Felicity took turns doting on William. It got worse when Bob came out. He wouldn't stop making noises to get little William to smile.

 **Jan-7**

Felicity was dressed in a beautiful red dress for the wedding that made Oliver want to take it off of her immediately. They almost didn't make it to the ceremony. Oliver had brought his largest suit from home after the Christmas holiday but the jacket was still a little tight. Alice wanted her co-workers to enjoy the wedding so she hired a professional catering service that would handle the food and drinks. Bob kept a close eye on the strangers.

The tables where customers usually ate and drank were pushed together to form massive square tables so that they wouldn't have to rent large tables. Alice had prepared a seating chart, placing her co-workers at the same table. The tension between Diggle and Oliver was so thick not even a chain saw could cut through it. Felicity and Lyla took it upon themselves to invite Bob and Carl to dance, while Samantha excused herself to change William's diaper. This left Oliver and Diggle alone. It was obvious the women had planned that hoping they would talk and resolve their issue.

"What are you doing at the bar?" Oliver asked. He honestly expected the man to have disappeared by now.

"My job," Diggle said bluntly.

"I thought you would have reported to my father that his spy was discovered?"

"Really, that is what you think, that I'm your father's spy?"

"What are you then?"

"A body guard that kept a concerned parent updated on the welfare of his son,"

Oliver snorted. "Bullshit, if he was so concerned he would never have sent me out here,"

"Oliver this is the best thing that ever happened to you. Can you honestly say that you would be the man you are today if you never came here? 8 months ago you were a selfish, immature, brat, who couldn't see past his nose."

"Gee Diggle don't hold back, tell me how you really feel," Oliver responded bitterly,

Diggle ignored him, "but now, you give freely from your heart. You actually take into account how your actions affect others."

Oliver was silent.

"Can you imagine your life without Felicity in it?"

Definitely not Oliver's mind responded immediately.

"Your father did this for you to grow up and learn and guess what Oliver? It worked. It's time to shed the teenage angst you have towards your father now. He made his mistakes, but he's trying to fix them. You don't see Samantha's parents making an effort to help her now do you? And one last thing, I intend to finish my job. I'm here till May."

Oliver glared at his former friend.

"I need to go save Carl from my wife because if his hands wonder any further, she will break them off. Think about what I said Oliver."

 **Jan -8**

It was Thea's birthday and he was talking to his sister on the phone.

"Ollie why do these look like the same gift certificates mom got for Christmas?"

"One's from me and one's from Felicity," Oliver responded trying not to answer her question and admit that they were indeed the very same gift certificates she had asked about. His mother had given it to him saying that Moira Queen would never get caught using gift certificates. Oliver had bristled internally, he had been collecting Bed, Bath and Beyond 20% coupons to buy items for Felicity's kitchen yet his mother couldn't be seen using a gift certificate! At least he knew Thea wouldn't have the same issue. Just to feel like he gave his sister a gift, he also had flowers and chocolates delivered to her.

Eventually his sister moved on from the gift certificates to tell him about school and gush about the car that she finally got from their parents! Oliver warned her to be careful when she was driving. He didn't want to get a call that she had wrapped it around a tree. She promised to drive safely. He also made her promise not to drive into the Glades. She was a bit more reluctant to agree to that but caved when Oliver threatened to have Felicity track down Roy's phone number so that Oliver could talk to the boy about Thea's safety. The thought of Oliver and Roy ganging up on her terrified her.

 **Jan-9**

Near the end of January Anatoly made an appearance.

"Do I need to go in the office again?" Felicity asked chucking her thumb in the direction of the office.

"No need dear, I'm just here to give Bob a head's up," Anatoly said sitting at the bar and ordering a bottle of water.

"How much does Carl owe you now?" Bob asked as Oliver gave the Russian a bottle.

"Not me. I don't keep clients who can't pay. Your little rat fell in with the Bertinelli's. Rumour is he owes Frank 50K,"

"Wow," Felicity said.

Silence descended upon bar.

Anatoly pulled out a $100 bill and placed it on the bar, "keep the tip, you're going to need it,"

When he left the bar everyone looked at each other.

"I could ask my dad for the cash?" Felicity volunteered.

When everyone looked at her confused, she expounded.

"What, he said he was rich now. He feels guilty he left us and wants to make up for it with dollar signs. I don't want his money but I don't mind using it to help Bob since everyone here already knows that Carl isn't going to pay his debt."

"Your father actually said that?" Alice asked.

"Not in so many words," Felicity replied.

"No the real problem here is dealing with Carl," Diggle said. "Bob can't keep paying his loan sharks,"

"Bob could take a loan and dock Carl's pay to make the payments," Alice suggested.

"I'll talk to the bank tomorrow," Bob said.

"We still need to figure out what to do with Carl," Diggle reiterated.

"I agree with Diggle," Oliver said surprising the bouncer. "Bob, I have realised recently, that sometimes you got to let the kid fall to straighten him out. Bailing him out repeatedly will teach him nothing but that it's ok for him to continue along that path. The only way Carl is going to learn is to face the consequences of his actions. You may want to consider letting him deal with the Bertinellis himself."

"Frank will rip him to pieces. I cannot allow that," Bob said ending the discussion.

 **Jan – 10**

The bank refused to give Bob the loan on the grounds of his age. In the end, he sourced the money from Anatoly but Bob had actually listened to all of their input. He cut a deal with Anatoly where the Russian would send his goons after Carl and give him a scare. The goons would then keep Carl on the right path until he paid off the loan. It was not in Anatoly's interest for Carl to be racking up other debts or compromising his ability to pay. Bob was going to automatically dock Carl's pay to give Anatoly every week. After one black eye and a few bruises, Carl agreed.

"I could have asked my father for the 50K" Oliver admitted to Felicity as they lay cuddled together the morning after the deal with Anatoly was finalised.

"No," Felicity said firmly. "I got the terms of your deal out of Diggle. Carl got himself into this mess he had to make the sacrifices to get out of it. When you think about it Anatoly is a very shrewd businessman. He manipulated the whole situation?"

"How so?" Oliver asked.

"He cut off Carl knowing the boy would find another loan shark to fund his habits. He then stepped into to tell Bob knowing that Bob would try to find a way to pay the debt but this time the debt was too large. Anatoly knew no bank would lend Bob leaving him to turn to the only 'honourable loan shark'. Have you realised that Carl's repayment terms means that Anatoly is going to make a 100% profit on the loan!"

"I suppose that's why he's a successful loan shark. The point is to make money."

Felicity snuggled closer to him while he thought about the parallels between Carl and himself. He saw the pain on Bob's face when he agreed to Carl getting a little beat up but it was a necessary evil to straighten him out. He was getting worse and Bob wasn't going to be around to protect him forever. One day Carl would have gotten a serious beat down. Bob had gotten Anatoly to agree to use very little force. Carl was giving Bob the cold shoulder angry that the old man was interfering with his life. Carl didn't understand why he couldn't enjoy life the way he chose to enjoy life. It reminded Oliver of his thoughts before the challenge. Perhaps Diggle was right. It was time to shed his teenage view point of his father and move on.

 **Jan-11**

The last customer had just left the bar when Oliver called Diggle over and poured them each some Tennessee Whiskey.

"Was it real?" Oliver asked him.

"Was what real Oliver?"

"Our friendship?"

"It was very real. Making friends with you was not part of my contract. In fact, friendship usually hinders contracts because personal feelings get in the way."

Oliver nodded swirling the liquid around in his glass.

"Did you tell my father that Felicity knows," he asked

"No, my work is to keep you safe and let your dad know what you are up to. I don't have to tell him your girlfriend is a genius and can figure things out on her own,"

Oliver raised his glass in the air, "To the challenge, I may have viewed it as a way to freedom but I've gained a new outlook on life, a partner for life, I hope, and new friends, including you Diggle,"

Diggle smiled, "I can toast to that Oliver,"

January was finished and he was entering the last quarter of his challenge. For the first time he could see a path forming for his future. Sure it was still very blurry in some areas but he had no doubt that with Felicity and his friends, inclusive of Diggle by his side, that he would find his way.


	11. February

**An:** I do not own Arrow.

 **February**

It was February; the month of the year he had always hated the most. Whoever he was dating at the time would always put pressure on him for Valentine's day. Usually it was Laurel. She would cause him to spiral, ditching whatever date he had planned with her and bedding the nearest attractive woman instead. He could now look back on it and put the blame squarely on himself. He chose to do the things he did. Laurel never forced it upon him. It was his own cowardice and immaturity to deal with the situation that caused most of the debacles in his life.

This month was different. He found himself looking forward to Valentine's day. Felicity had promised him that she had something special planned for him. She had also declared no gifts. They had just finished the holiday season as well as pay for gifts for a baby shower and wedding. They were splitting the bills evenly between them and she wanted to save a little money to pay for the move to Starling City and pay the first month's rent at whatever apartment they decided to live in. Oliver did not point out to her that he would have his trust fund back in May and they could buy a place. He was apprehensive what the sudden influx of cash would do to their relationship.

 **Feb-2**

It was Super Bowl Sunday, the bar was crowded with football aficionados. Samantha was back, she had lost most of the weight from the pregnancy so she could squeeze between customers easily now. Occasionally the baby monitor at the bar would blink and he would signal to her to take a break. Right as she was heading into the back, Bob would come out from the kitchen to tell her that William was crying.

Felicity was again helping him behind the bar so when his Starling City phone vibrated in his pocket and the caller id indicated it was Walter Steele, a close friend of the family's, he thought something terrible had happened. He gave Felicity a sympathetic look, he didn't like leaving her behind the bar alone but she told him to go on. She would be fine.

Oliver walked quickly out to the dumpster in the back.

"Walter what's wrong?" Oliver asked. All sorts of worries about something happening to his parents and sister cross his mind.

"Nothing's wrong. I finally got out of your father what you've been up to and I just wanted to call you to tell you I was proud of you," Walter said.

"Oh," Oliver replied relieved that nothing had happened to his parents and sister.

"Keep up the good work," Walter said before hanging up.

The sentiment warmed Oliver. Walter had always been a calming presence in his life, always trying to guide him to the right decision but then he realised that his father had told yet another person! Was his father deliberately trying to undermine Oliver's secret identity?

He angrily dialled his father's cell phone. The man answered after one ring. He didn't wait for his father to greet him.

"Dad, I am changing the terms and conditions of the challenge. If you tell one more person where I am, you void the agreement and I earn my extra two years of freedom. You have no choice but to agree to the modification because as I've proven, I don't need the Queen name to live a happy life. Goodbye," Oliver said hanging up without waiting for his father's response.

Miles away on the top floor of Queen Consolidated, Robert Queen sat with his best friend Walter Steele. Both men had proud looks on their face.

"Robert, one day Oliver is going to make a fine CEO," Walter said confidently.

"I know," Robert replied.

 **Feb-3**

"What ya doing," Oliver asked Felicity. He had just come home from the grocery. He had picked up a few extra ingredients to make an extra special Valentine's lunch along with some scented candles for other activities. Just because Felicity said no gifts, didn't mean he couldn't spoil her some other way.

"Flipping through the pictures we took in August. I've been thinking of printing a few like this one with you in between me and my mom. I think I want a big print of it to put above our fireplace."

"We don't have a fireplace, Felicity," Oliver pointed out.

"Not yet but I was thinking perhaps our new place could have one. On cold nights we could cuddle up in front of it with smores or something,"

"Are you sure we'll only be cuddling?" Oliver asked with a suggestive look.

Felicity swatted at his arm and he took a seat next to her to look at the screen. He remembered that day. A tourist had taken the picture of the three of them. Donna wanted to go to a nearby fair. Oliver had won the shooting game twice. He got a big fluffy dog for Donna and a Panda for Felicity. Both stuffed animals were still in their room. Felicity put in on their bed every morning after she made it. That was the first thing he had ever given her. The next set of pictures were of Felicity and Donna at the bar. Alice had taken it after the bar had closed. They were dancing. They looked carefree and happy. Another picture caught his eye.

"When was that taken?"

"I guess the same night as the others?"

"I remember you helping me put away some of the bottles but I don't remember anyone taking a picture,"

"I guess we were totally oblivious. Must have been a good conversation, we are totally focused on each other."

"Even then, we were smitten with each other," Oliver admitted.

"Smitten?" Felicity protested "I had a tinsy winsy crush on you?"

"That's why you kept bumping into furniture when I was shirtless?" he teased her causing her to flush.

"It might have grown a little bit bigger by then," Felicity admitted.

"Whatever you say love," he declared.

"I hope you remember that later in life when I tell you to change the kid's diapers," she said before realising exactly what she said and turning around to clutch his shirt, "not that I'm saying we will have kids,"

Oliver laughed, "It's ok to plan our future, besides I thought you weren't giving birth,"

"I don't know. William's kind of adorable and I feel like I might want one of my own someday," she admitted.

He wrapped his arms around her, "how about we practice making one for the future,"

"Practice," she looked at him with a gleam in her eye.

"Yes practice makes perfect,"

 **Feb-4**

Felicity had received responses from Kord Industries, Palmer Technologies and Queen Consolidated. They had all short listed her and wanted to conduct a skype interview with her. She had applied for high level positions at all three companies so Oliver knew that the skype interview was just the first round. It would probably be done by someone in HR to ensure that she wasn't crazy or had any weird tics that would affect the employees she worked with. The positions all required you to run a unit. Oliver had helped Felicity write a brilliant cover letter where he made it sound like she managed the IT staff at the casinos. He knew how to play the corporate game, he knew what people like his father looked for in new recruits and he made sure each of those qualities were highlighted in Felicity's resume and cover letter.

His father had always told him QC deserved the best and brightest employees, nothing less. He supposed that was why he was so deadest against working at QC. He was not the best or the brightest. He had struggled through several business schools. Up to last month, Laurel was pointing out lessons he hadn't learned. Oliver had always thought he was a screw up and if he worked at QC then everyone at the company would see firsthand just how much of a screw up he was.

Felicity was moving forward with her life and it was time for him to start thinking seriously what he was going to do with the two years he had before he had to join the company.

 **Feb-5**

It was Valentine's morning and the bed was very cold. He reached for Felicity and realised she wasn't there. That was probably why the bed felt cold. He padded quietly through the apartment to find her sitting on the kitchen counter next to the stove, stirring something she had cooking in the frying pan.

"Felicity?" he questioned.

Her whole face lit up and she jumped down from the counter and walked over to a plate, tipping a burnt omelette out on it.

"I cooked breakfast for you," she said holding the plate out to him. He picked up the fork on the plate and sampled a piece of the omelette.

"Felicity Smoak," Oliver said, her features looking very hopeful, "you have failed this omelette,"

Her shoulders fell and she stared at the omelette in disappointment. "Really?"

"but I still love it anyway because you made it for me," Oliver said taking another bite of the omelette. It was at least edible; she had obviously been practicing because the last time she attempted a culinary dish not even the dogs in the pound would eat it.

They were interrupted by the doorbell. Both of them frowned. They weren't expecting any visitors.

"I'll get it," Oliver said putting the plate down and patting her hand in reassurance that he did appreciate her surprise.

He peeked through the peephole to see who was standing at the door. He didn't recognise the man. He was shorter than Oliver with a slim build and slicked back dark hair. The doorbell rang again. Oliver cracked the door open an inch.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

The man seemed taken aback by his presence. He double checked the number on the door.

"I'm looking for Felicity," the man said.

"What do you want with her?" Oliver asked. He wasn't letting a strange man in.

"I'm here to see her," was the man's reply.

"What for?" Oliver persisted.

"None of your business," the man threw back at him.

Oliver was losing his patience with this man.

"Oliver who is it?" Felicity asked from behind him.

He felt her come to his side and peek through the door below him,

"Cooper," she whispered in shock.

"Hi babe, care to tell your guard dog to back down. Your boyfriend would like to come in,"

Oliver let out a low growl, he yanked the door open and before Cooper could blink, his right fist connected with the left side of Cooper's face, the force of the blow knocking Cooper backwards.

'Damn that felt good,' Oliver thought as he slammed the door shut behind him, making sure it was securely locked.

"Oliver!" Felicity exclaimed.

He slid his hand into hers and pulled her back towards the kitchen.

Felicity looked between him and the door. "We're just going to leave him out there?"

"Yeap," Oliver said getting some ice for his hand. The jerks face was harder than he thought.

"Oliver,"

"Felicity," he looked at her earnestly.

"Ok," she relented taking the ice from him and wrapping it in a cloth that she then put on his knuckles.

An hour later there was more knocking at the door, a look through the peephole revealed a police officer. Oliver was thankful Felicity was in the shower.

"Good morning Officer," Oliver said, "Is there something I can help you with," He had dealt with cops before, he knew he could handle this.

"There was a report of an assault here," The officer said,

"Here?" Oliver asked confused.

"You wouldn't know anything about that?"

"No officer, I've been cooking lunch for my girlfriend, but if I hear or see anything I'll let you know,"

"Can I see your hands?"

"Sure," Oliver said confidently showing him his hands. The ice stopped any bruising from forming. There would be no physical evidence that he hit Cooper.

"Thank you for your time," the officer said.

"It wasn't a problem. You're just doing your job Officer," Oliver said.

As soon as Oliver closed the door, rage flooded his system. That snake called the cops on him. It was a good thing there was no one around to prove anything. He was grateful that Felicity had planned to spend the evening at the bar preparing for her interviews. He was not leaving her home alone.

 **Feb** _ **-**_ **6**

When they arrived at the bar, Oliver immediately pulled Bob and Digg aside.

"Guess who showed up at Felicity's apartment today?"

"Your mother?" Digg asked.

"No God forbid, Thea was already enough. This was worse."

"Who could be worse than your mother?" Diggle asked.

"Cooper," Oliver snarled.

"That bastard! What did Felicity say?" Bob asked.

"I didn't give her a chance to talk to him. I decked him and slammed the door in his face. An hour later, the cops turned up. I denied everything but I have a feeling he's going to come here looking for her."

"What does he look like?" Digg asked.

"He's a few inches shorter than Oliver, slim built with this ridiculous slick back hair and hopefully a big nasty bruise on one side of his face," Bob responded. He had seen him a few times before when he had visited Felicity and she brought him to the bar.

"I'll keep an eye out," Diggle said.

Oliver knew he could count on them.

 **Feb-7**

The night was busy and lots of couples were ordering the Valentine's cocktail Oliver had prepared for the night. He would have liked Felicity seated at the bar but she said she needed a table to work. He suggested Bob's office but she said she wanted to enjoy the atmosphere in the bar. He placed her at a table where the three of them had a great view of her despite the crowd. She was reviewing the detailed notes she had compiled on each company, their vision, mission and strategic plans and figuring out how she could fit herself into the mix and she would help move the company forward. She was sure such questions might come up in the first round of interviews.

Oliver had missed when Copper slipped in behind a couple. It was right after Digg helped a drunk couple outside and called them a cab. Oliver's cocktail packed quite a punch. You would be surprised, how many people tried to insist that they could drive. One moment he was placing drinks on Alice's tray, the next everyone was gasping. The band hired specifically for that night stopped playing and the bar fell eerily quiet. There at Felicity's table stood Cooper Sheldon with his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist. A few yards away stood Bob with his double barrelled shot gun pointed straight at Cooper.

"Let her go," Bob said in a dangerously low tone.

"Leave us alone old man, this does not concern you," Cooper responded rudely.

"I will ask you again nicely, let her go,"

"You're not going to shoot me in the middle of your bar full of people," Cooper said.

Bob cocked the gun to load the rounds into the chamber. "The hell I'm not. You're harassing one of my loyal customers, now get the fuck out!"

Diggle had returned at the point and marched right up to Cooper, "let her go or I'll make you," he made a point of flexing those massive biceps of his.

Cooper reluctantly let go of Felicity. Digg grabbed his hand and swung it painfully behind Coopers back, using it as leverage to march the man out of the bar.

"And don't come back!" Bob yelled, "We'll be filing a restraining order."

Oliver made his way quickly to Felicity, "you ok?"

"I'm fine," she said rubbing her wrist.

"He's gone," Diggle said when he returned. He looked down at her hand, "starting tomorrow I'm teaching you basic self defence, both of you,"

"That sounds like a great idea," Felicity said.

 **Feb-8**

The next morning, Felicity groaned as her ass again landed on the training mat in Diggle's apartment.

"This was a horrible idea," she groaned.

Both men chuckled at her. Oliver had been learning fast, Diggle teasing him that he could join the bodyguard industry soon.

"I'm going to get some water," Felicity declared slowly getting up from the matt.

Oliver waited until she was out of earshot before he spoke to Diggle, "Can you extend your bodyguard contract to Felicity? I can pay you in May when I have access to funds again."

"Oliver, you don't need to ask me to look out for Felicity. She is my friend. I will not let anyone hurt her,"

"I just feel better knowing someone is there when I am not. I go to the gym every morning. She's alone for that entire time and now with her preparing for the interviews she's home alone a lot more,"

"I have an idea," Diggle said. "Lyla's having a hard time adjusting to being back. It was like this the first time we came back but it was both of us then. I'm stable now with a stable job. I can ask Lyla to keep an eye on Felicity. Both women get along great and focusing on Felicity might be good for Lyla. Help her sort out the changes in herself. I was serious when I said I wasn't letting Lyla go."

"What are you guys whispering conspiratorially about?" Felicity asked, her eyes narrowed in an accusing way.

Oliver made an act of looking around for Lyla before signalling for Felicity to come closer.

"Digg's concerned about Lyla's adjustment to being back. Lyla has no friends here so he was wondering if you could spend more time with her. Help her along, help her find a place in a life not dominated by war."

Felicity's eyes widened, "I did think some days she was a little tense. I can invite her over when Oliver's at the gym for some girl talk."

"That would be great," Diggle said smiling.

"Great I'll ask her now," Felicity said wondering out to the little porch on their apartment where Lyla would sit and stare at the horizon.

"Problems solved," Oliver said with a smile.

"One day man, you're going to make a great manager," Diggle said clapping Oliver on the back before adjusting his hands and putting Oliver on his back.

"Hey man I wasn't ready," Oliver protested.

"What did I teach you first? Always be alert."

 **Feb-9**

Oliver entered the gym, Felicity in tow. Lyla had been coming over on mornings and somehow Lyla had taken a liking to teaching Felicity how to be more alert and safe. Lyla thought Oliver's invitation for her to learn yoga would help Felicity with her flexibility. Felicity had reluctantly agreed to go once a week but not to the same class that Oliver did. She didn't want him laughing at her.

She was chewing on bottom her lip nervously when he took her to the exercise room.

"Hi Shado, this is Felicity. She'll be joining your class today,"

"Felicity," the woman said lighting up, "Oliver cannot shut up about you!"

"I hope it's only good things?" Felicity said.

A large heavy hand fell on her shoulder, "trust me the way he talks about you, one would think the sun shines out of your ass!"

"Mr. Wilson," Felicity said.

"Call me Slade. I'm going to borrow Oliver here now. We'll be working on legs today,"

Oliver groaned as he did another set of squats. Slade had him going through a routine with squats, lunges and weights to strengthen his legs. Slade thought that while Oliver had developed his upper body he had neglected his legs. Oliver watched the clock on the wall waiting for the assigned time when the yoga class would finish. He had tried to peek in to see how it was going but Slade had caught him and added an extra set to this routine. Slade had said if he had time to stare at girls he had time to give him another set.

When the class finished, he found Felicity talking with Shado.

"That is so much harder than it looks!"

"You'll get accustomed to it," Shado said.

"Can I steal her for a moment Shado. I want to show her the salmon ladder."

"Show off," Shado teased as he tugged Felicity away.

He walked with the bar up to the ladder and then jumped up to the lowest rung, setting the bar in place. He would have done it shirtless if Slade didn't have a rule about taking off your shirt to work out. He then moved up a rung, then another and another before he paused to look at Felicity.

"As soon as I get my first pay cheque I'm buying one of those for you," she said to him. Her eyes were glued to his body. He really loved showing off for his girl.

A crowd of other women started to form and he could swear he heard Felicity tell them to back off he was hers. They both left the gym with huge smiles on their face.

 **Feb-10**

Later that afternoon as he was getting ready to head to the bar, Felicity had a shocked look on her face as she got off of her cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked.

"That was Myron. He was a good friend of Cooper's. They were roommates at MIT."

Oliver clenched his fists, "Did we not make it clear enough to that jerk that we don't want anything to do with him. Is he asking his friends to harass you?"

"No nothing like that. The FBI arrested Cooper today. Apparently, he hacked into some government websites illegally. He came out here to hide from them. When he filed that police report he used an alias that they had found when they examined his computers back in Boston. They tracked him here and found him hiding out in a motel outside of the strip."

"That's one problem solved," Oliver said with no sympathy for Cooper at all.

Felicity gave him a look. "I can't be so callous Oliver. I spent years of my life with him. It's sad for me to see someone I used to care deeply for go to jail."

Oliver walked over to her and took her hands in his, "Cooper made his decision Felicity. He has to take responsibility for it now."

Felicity nodded and hugged him.

 **Feb-11**

Felicity had passed all of her first round interviews and had been invited for a second one with a more technical team at the three companies in Starling City. Obviously, Oliver wanted her to work at QC but he wasn't going to interfere. It was her decision. He had two more months left in the challenge but he was still at a loss with what to do with his two years of freedom. It was a lot harder than he thought to find something that was meaningful to him and kept him close to Felicity in Starling City. Whatever was to come, he was confident that together they would find a solution.


	12. March

**An:** I do not own Arrow. This is my favourite chapter.

 **March**

Bright and early on March 1st, the doorbell rang again.

"Who is it this time!" Felicity said throwing her hands up in the air.

"I'll get it," Oliver said.

He peeked through the window and did a double take. He opened the door, "Tommy?"

"Hi Ollie, my dad cut me off. Said I had to learn responsibility, whatever that means," he said strolling past him and dropping his bags by the sofa.

Oliver stood their flabbergasted.

"He told me to get a job. What am I going to do?" Tommy asked his friend bewildered.

"Maybe get a job?" Felicity deadpanned from the kitchen.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Tommy asked moving towards her. "Thea said you were shacking up with someone but she refused to give me any details. She said the Queens were keeping her all to themselves. I thought I was an official Queen as well."

"Back off Tommy," Oliver said finally finding his voice.

"Relax Ollie, I know she's yours."

"Felicity this is my best friend Tommy Merlyn, Tommy this is the love of my life, Felicity Smoak," Oliver said seriously.

Felicity blushed so hard, she thought her face might explode. Tommy seemed to be studying her as if she was an alien object so she decided to give them some time alone.

"I think I'll go visit Digg and Lyla while you two catch up," Felicity said.

Oliver watched Felicity put on her sneakers and grab her tablet before heading out. She was definitely going to update Thea on this latest development. As soon as the door closed he rounded on Tommy.

"Did my dad tell your dad about the challenge?" he asked. Was he about to get evidence that his father had broken the new terms and conditions of the challenge?

"No,"

"Then why did your dad cut you off?" Oliver asked confused.

"I might have borrowed his favourite car to take Laurel on a date and I might have accidentally hit a piece of iron that was sticking out and caused a big long tear down the passenger side of the car. The good news was I had already dropped Laurel off so she wasn't injured,"

"You wrecked his Lambo, his favourite Lambo, the one that he keeps the keys to secured in a safe?" Oliver asked just to make sure he was understanding Tommy.

"Yes,"

"But I thought you weren't allowed to drive it,"

"I'm not. I sort of took the keys out of the safe when he wasn't looking,"

"You're lucky he didn't skin you alive,"

"I know. He went on and on about how reckless I am and that I need to learn to be more responsible. He actually said that he wasn't going to send me off to back pack Europe the way Robert did to you so I'm fairly sure he doesn't know about your challenge. If he did he probably would have sent me packing months ago. I spent last night at Laurel's but we are not at that stage in our relationship where we are ready to live together so I thought I would come out here and see if maybe I could do something until the old man cools off and I have access to my trust fund back," Tommy said.

Oliver sighed. He couldn't turn his back on his friend. He showed him to Felicity's old room and gave him the house rules, stressing Felicity's rule of no wet towels on the bed. He told Tommy he was expected to pull his weight and he gave him a very detailed and specific list of everything Tommy had to do. The list included doing his own laundry, washing the dishes, and cleaning the bedroom he was staying in. Tommy was lucky Oliver had been through this process before. He knew exactly what Tommy was going to struggle with so his friend had the perfect guide to the path of responsibility. They would discuss what portion of the bills, if any, he would pay when Felicity returned.

 **Mar -2**

That afternoon, Diggle arched an eyebrow as Tommy Merlyn walked into Off the Beaten Strip. Oliver knew it was a big risk taking Tommy Merlyn to work at the bar. He could easily be connected to Oliver Queen but Oliver trusted everyone there, well with the exception of Carl but the boy spent so much energy on being passive aggressive the appearance of Tommy Merlyn would go over his head. He knew Bob, Alice and Samantha would not say a word to anyone. As for their customers, he had yet to meet a customer that was actually interested in who he was. They usually arrived to drown their sorrows in liquor or party until they dropped. They never thought twice about who it was that was serving them drinks.

"It's a long story," Oliver told Diggle.

Diggle laughed, "Do I even want to know?"

"No but Tommy this is my new best friend Diggle," Oliver said to irk Tommy.

"New best friend?" Tommy asked taking the bait.

"Yeah, since you have no more money I don't see any sense in you keeping your best friend status," Oliver teased.

Diggle laughed and Tommy made a play of grabbing his heart, "You stabbed me straight through the heart."

"Let's introduce you to Bob and see about getting you a job here," Oliver said.

"You work for a man named Bob?" Tommy asked in disbelief.

"Don't say it. Thea already had plenty of laughs out of it," he told Tommy.

"I can only imagine the mischief our baby sister got up to when she was here," Tommy said. Since Thea had been born, they had agreed to share her as their baby sister.

They walked over to Bob.

"Bob this is my friend Tommy. He really needs a job so I was wondering if Tommy and I could do shifts at the bar. We'll split the pay between us. You don't need to worry. Tommy can mix drinks as well as I can. He can also pick up odds and ends around the bar, like washing glasses, helping you out in the kitchen."

"Is he an ex-con as well?" Bob asked with a little smile.

"Yeah, we met in the slammer. We both did six months for assaulting a cop." Tommy said nonchalantly.

"You were in jail for assaulting a cop!" Bob said.

Oliver held up his hands, "Tommy's a joker," he said glaring at his best friend, "I've known him since I was in diapers. He can be trusted. If you agree I can show him around today."

Bob looked from Oliver to Tommy. "If it ain't going to cost me anything, then go ahead. Knock yourselves out but Oliver, you're his direct supervisor, you're responsible for everything he does, good and bad."

 **Mar- 3**

Tommy looked at the pile of dirty glasses then at Oliver, "I have to wash that!"

"Yes," Oliver said folding his hands across his impressive chest.

"But these hands weren't made for manual labour!" the brunette protested.

"Tommy, you want to get paid?"

"Yes," he replied with a roll of the eyes. Of course he wanted to get paid.

"Then do the damn glasses. You can't serve drinks without glasses. The soap is on the wall, the gloves are hanging up on the edge of the sink and the sponge is on the shelf there," Oliver said pointing to all the tools Tommy needed.

Half an hour later, when Oliver returned to see what was taking Tommy so long with the glasses, water was everywhere including all over Tommy.

"Tommy I asked you to wash the glasses, not have a bath in the kitchen sink!"

"I am washing the glasses," Tommy hissed. "These evil things won't stay in my hands when they are soapy and Bob told me I can't afford to break a glass. This needs to be done very carefully,"

Oliver broke out in a laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"I think I'm going to make you clean the bathrooms instead,"

"What?" Tommy exclaimed his eyes widening.

Oliver held up his hands, "Just joking but if you don't get here cleaned up in the next five minutes, and those clean glasses on the bar outside, you're cleaning the urinals next,"

Tommy quickly got to work but Oliver interrupted him, "One other thing Tommy, you're supposed to used this to clean the glasses," he said showing a sponge into his hand.

As Oliver walked back to the bar, Bob clapped him on his shoulder proudly, "we'll make a manager of you yet!"

Oliver couldn't help but smirk. He was the second close friend to express that sentiment, and when they said it he believed it.

When Felicity arrived to pick them up, Tommy whined the whole way home.

"Gee Oliver, if you had been like this when we first met, I never would have liked you," Felicity commented from the back seat. She had let Tommy take the front so that he had room to stretch his legs out.

"It's a good thing I didn't live with you when I first started out this challenge. Hey maybe we should put Tommy in that apartment I had when I first came here?"

"No," Felicity said adamantly, "no one should have to live in that,"

"I think this is the first time I have ever left a bar sober!" Tommy moaned.

"That's a good thing Tommy," Oliver said to him.

Tommy collapsed in bed immediately, leaving Oliver and Felicity alone. She looped her arms around the back of his neck, "So Mr. Arrow, how was your first day supervising your first employee?"

"Stressful, I swear if Tommy wasn't a good friend who really needed this job, I would have fired him!"

"He could not have been that bad!"

"Felicity, he used the hand broom to scrub the glasses,"

His girlfriend made a disgusted face, "seriously?"

"I have pictures," Oliver said pulling out his phone.

Felicity laughed, "you should send these to Thea, she would love them."

 **Mar-4**

Oliver watched as Tommy stared at the washing machine in front of him.

"There are more buttons to turn this thing on than on a woman!"

Oliver guffawed. Only Tommy could compare using a washing machine to sex.

"How come your dad is allowing you to use the Merlyn name?"

"He said it was so the world could see that Tommy Merlyn can do menial tasks. He said my ego needed to come down a peg or two. Can you imagine that? **HE** told me that. Bob's ego wouldn't even be able to occupy a tile in the Grand Ballroom of the Starling Hotel because my father's ego would fill up the whole room. It's like the pot calling the kettle black,"

Oliver laughed, "Bob's kitchen proverbs are rubbing off on you."

"That man has a saying for everything, there's 'a watched pot doesn't boil', then 'laughter is brightest in the place where food is'," Tommy said listing off the proverbs he had been told.

"Has he told you the one by Auguste Escoffier, "the greatest dishes are very simple,"

"Nah haven't heard that one yet but I'm sure it will come up soon," Tommy said still staring at the machine.

"You could at least try and choose a setting?" Oliver said nodding to the machine.

"What a spin cycle?" Tommy asked. "Is it like that spin class I hear women talk about,"

Oliver laughed. This must have been how Bob felt when Oliver was learning to use his machine. He spared his friend any further confusion and explained in detail how the washing machine worked and that he needed to add detergent to his clothes.

 **Mar-5**

Felicity hopped up on the stool with a smile on her face. Everyone appeared around her anxiously. She had her first interview in Starling City that day.

"I'm guessing the interview went well," Tommy said.

"It did,"

"So you're leaning towards Kord Industries then," Oliver asked hesitantly.

She pursed her lips, "I don't know. They do a lot of military defense contracts there and I don't know how I feel about my code being used to blow people up. I mean I understand that it's important to our security but at the same time I wonder if there's not a better way. The Palmer Tech interview is in a few days and Queen Consolidated is after that. Let's see how those go,"

Oliver relaxed. He was tempted to call his father and demand that Felicity be hired but he knew that would be wrong. Felicity would not appreciate that. Besides she didn't need that. Her achievements spoke for themselves and the interview panel at QC would see that on their own, without the boss's son strongly suggesting that she should be hired.

 **Mar-6**

Off the Beaten strip was hosting a huge St. Patrick's Day party. Alice and Samantha had decorated the bar with various Irish themes. Corned beef was added to the menu in accordance with the theme. Felicity took over Tommy's post at the bar, something that had the brunette grumbling about because he was sent to the kitchen to help Bob. Carl was coming and going like mad with dishes and glasses. Just before midnight, Tommy came out of the kitchen in a panic,

"Oliver, I think there's something wrong with Bob," he said.

Oliver stopped what was doing and followed his friend into the kitchen. There they found Bob leaning over a counter, a little out of breath.

"Bob," Oliver said concerned.

"Tommy, I told you not to call anyone. I just got the wind knocked out of me," Bob said.

"But you didn't run into anything," Tommy pointed out.

"I'm fine. It will pass. It always passes," Bob admitted.

"You've had this before," Oliver said. He couldn't remember seeing Bob like this but he spent most of his time behind the bar. It was really Carl who came into the kitchen but then again it was Carl and the boy probably wouldn't care if the old man wasn't well especially in light on the deal with Anatoly.

Bob looked Oliver squarely in the eyes, "I'm fine now get back to work, both of you,"

Oliver watched the older man, he had straightened and his breathing had evened out. He did look fine now.

"Ok, but if this happens again, we're taking you to the hospital," Oliver said.

He looked at Tommy, "keep an eye on him,"

 **Mar-7**

Felicity was intercepted at the door this time by Alice and Samantha. She had just returned from her interview at Palmer Technologies. Oliver listened to the girls squeal and he assumed the worst. An overwhelming sense of disappointment filled him.

"Guess she got the job," Tommy commented from next to him. "Cheer up, it's not the end of the world," he said to Oliver.

Oliver nodded tersely as he watched her walk up to him, her eyes twinkling.

"So you got the job?" he said.

"Sort of, Ray Palmer himself conducted the interview. He was so impressed with me; he offered me a position as Vice-President."

"Wow," Oliver said. "I guess congratulations are in order."

"Not so fast. I kind of want to see how things go with the QC interview. Ray came off a bit strong. I asked for some time to think about it and since I left I've gotten five messages from him. I don't want to think what it will be like working for him,"

Oliver frowned, "is he harassing you?"

"Oh no they were all tech related. Just some cutting edge articles about nanotechnology. It's really interesting. He's doing some good work there."

"Felicity," Oliver said taking her hand over the bar, "I don't want you holding out for QC just because it's my family's company. I am not going to deny that I'll be thrilled if you do go to work there but I want you to do what makes you happy,"

Felicity squeezed his hand back, "I know Oliver. I'm still going to wait until after the QC interview before I make any decision. The choice would really be between QC and Palmer Tech. I don't think Kord is going to make me an offer because I might have made a face when they talked about improving their missiles to destroy more enemy targets."

 **Mar-8**

With Tommy's arrival Laurel was coming to visit every weekend. The first weekend had been awkward but with Felicity's innuendos, the awkwardness soon vanished and they settled into a really good friendship. This particular weekend was quite crowded because Laurel's younger sister, Sara, and Thea had tagged along. The apartment looked like a camp site. Thea and Sara had walked with sleeping bags and they were having a blast pretending to be camping in the rugged outdoors, in their living room. He was thinking about charging all the visitors a fee. It was expensive to host them. They used more water, more electricity and more food when they were there. Felicity told him he was becoming a bit stingy, they were friends and they could come whenever they liked at no cost.

Even though Tommy and Oliver had to work, that didn't dampen the girls' sprits. Usually, Laurel and Felicity would do something and then swing by the bar but since Sara and Thea were also there they decided on making it an official girls' night out. They were going to hit the strip partying. Lyla was joining them too. Digg was very apprehensive about them getting into to trouble but Tommy was optimistic that they couldn't do anything worse than what he and Oliver had already done.

Oliver was stunned that night, when four drunken girls accompanied by a sober Lyla, the designated driver for the night, tumbled into the bar. Diggle had to help both Felicity and Laurel across the bar, Thea and Sara being guided Lyla. All four girls were placed on bar stools in front of Oliver.

"Why are there two Olivers" Felicity asked tilting her head to the side to study Oliver.

"What did you do with my girlfriend," Oliver hissed to his sister who wasn't much better.

"Tequila shots!" Sara crowed.

"I'm sleepy," Laurel said.

"Looks like some ladies had a nice night," Bob said watching them lined up at his bar.

"Bob!" Felicity said perking up, "Why are there two Olivers?" she asked genuinely expecting the old man to solve the problem for her.

Bob sighed, "Tommy!" he yelled.

"Yes boss," Tommy said appearing from the kitchen with an apron that said 'kiss the cook'.

"Take these fine ladies into the back and let them get some rest while they wait for you clowns to finish up."

"Yes boss," Tommy said. He started with Laurel who was very pleased to be able to kiss the cook.

The next morning the darkened living room had been declared a quiet zone and Tommy found a frying pan hurled at his head by his own girlfriend for breathing too loudly.

Oliver thought it was quite interesting that Felicity hadn't even gone to Starling City yet but she had become great friends with his friends. The only hurdle that remained would be his parents.

 **Mar-9**

Oliver went through the motions of pouring drinks but his mind was elsewhere. Felicity left that morning for the final round interview at QC in Starling City. Her return flight would have landed 10 minutes ago and Oliver was forced to send Tommy to pick her up because somehow an out of town bachelorette party had landed in their bar. Probably because Oliver's marketing plan for the bar was paying off. He was busy and tense. He wanted to know how things went. It was another 40 minutes before Felicity appeared with Tommy and Big Belly Burger for everyone.

"How did it go?" Bob asked getting to her first this time.

"It went well. It was an eight hour interview but I completed everything they asked even surpassing all of their current programmers they have on staff. They said they will notify me in April. There are still two more candidates to interview but Mr. Steele pulled me aside after the interview and said he felt confident that I would be the one chosen."

"So you think you want to accept the position?"Diggle asked hopefully. He knew Oliver really wanted her to work there.

Felicity shook her head excitedly. Oliver's hands circled around her waist and he lifted her up into the air spinning her around.

"Drinks on me!" Tommy declared.

"Tommy," Oliver said with a frown, "You can't afford that,"

"Opps old habits die hard,"

"I got you on this. It is a time to celebrate but after this party clears out of here," Bob said. "You all still have work to do,"

When the crowd had died down, Bob pulled out a special bottle of champagne he had purchased for the day. Regardless of how all the interviews went, he was going to open it and celebrate. The interviews represented Felicity moving on with life and following her dreams again. Donna would be so proud of her baby girl.

 **Mar-10**

Tommy's appearance in Las Vegas meant that Felicity didn't have to give up the apartment. Tommy could live there and pay the bills. Oliver knew she was apprehensive about giving it up. She had lived there all her life. She had so many fond memories of her home. Many afternoons, after lunch, they would sit on the sofa cuddled together and Felicity would tell him something about her childhood; what it had been like to grow up in Las Vegas. She built her first computer in that apartment. She had many firsts in that apartment. Even their relationship had many firsts in the apartment. It was when he was thinking of buying the whole complex that a thought occurred to Oliver: He could go into real estate.

He wanted to specialise in buying large dilapidated apartment complexes, like what he had first lived in when he came to Las Vegas, and renovate them to provide the current occupants with a decent standard of living without throwing them out by increasing rent. He knew such a project would require large capital and it wouldn't pay off for over a decade but he had the money to spare and he had seen a real need for good housing options for persons that were paid minimum wage.

 **Mar -11**

At the end of the month, both Oliver and Diggle turned in their one month's notice. Bob was sad to see them go but he claimed he understood. He said that it was time for Oliver to move on and seemed genuinely happy for him. Oliver had already trained a replacement bartender in Tommy so the bar would not suffer after his departure. Diggle however was a bit of the shock to Bob but Diggle promised the old man that he would find an excellent replacement.

If you had asked him in May what he would be feeling after successfully completing eleven months of the challenge he would have said that he would have been ecstatic and hoping that the last month flew by. However, that was not the case. He was hoping time slowed down so that he could enjoy the last month. It was very bittersweet because as much as he was looking forward to his future with Felicity, a part of him was hesitant to give up the life that he now led.

 **An:** So the last month in the Challenge is next. Does he make it? Tell me in your reviews what you think?


	13. April

**April**

 **An:** I do not own Arrow. Thank you to all my guests who reviewed, Laura, Ann, Cxxxx and others. I added a scene to this chapter just for JayMerlin17 on Ao3.

The beginning of April signalled the beginning of their plans to pack up. With Tommy staying on, it meant that they no longer needed to pack up the furniture in the apartment. Oliver had talked to his mother about finding an apartment in the city. She wasn't very happy about that idea but she accepted it. She said if he needed furniture he could take from the mansion since she was thinking of redecorating again. He did agree to stay at the Mansion until they found an appropriate place to live in.

 **Apr-2**

Bob had decided to update some of the furniture in the bar. The delivery truck was arriving at 8:30am and Oliver needed to get there early to help Bob. When Oliver arrived he found Bob in the back, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Oliver rushed Bob into the ER of the nearest hospital. Bob was conscious and protesting the whole way that he didn't need treatment but Oliver didn't listen. The triage doctor suspected Bob was having a heart attack and hooked him up to an EKG to confirm. Not finding his phone, he borrowed a phone for a nurse to call Diggle. He asked him to receive the furniture at the bar and they would see about arranging it later. He also asked him to call Felicity for him.

Oliver was left to fill out the paper work while they monitored Bob. He knew Bob didn't have any health insurance. The old man had neglected to renew it a few years ago and never bothered with it even when it became mandatory. He somehow managed to slip through the cracks of the system. The hospital was threatening to withhold treatment since Bob had stabilised and wasn't in a life threatening situation. They wanted to know if he could pay. Bob was ready to leave, saying that the pain was gone and he was fine now but Oliver refused. Bob needed treatment and tests. Oliver reached into his wallet and pulled out a card he hadn't used in 11 months, his black Amex card. He carried it for emergencies only and this qualified as an emergency. The hospital clerk's eyes widened at the sight of the card.

"Charge it to this," he said handing it to her. He knew he was a couple of weeks away from winning the challenge but Bob's life was more important than some silly game with his father.

Four hours later Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, and Tommy were seated in the private room that Oliver secured for Bob. The bar was going to be closed for the next few days. Initial tests revealed that Bob had four clogged arteries but the episodes he had been having hadn't damaged any heart tissue yet so they were very hopeful. They scheduled him for an angioplasty the next day to put stents in. The door burst open and Robert and Moira Queen arrived in the room.

"Oliver," his father said looking at the bed to see Bob instead.

"Dad?" Oliver questioned standing up.

"Son, are you alright?" his father said, his eyes frantically scanning over his son.

"I'm fine," Oliver said his mother making a bee line for him and hugging him tight.

"The credit card company notified me that your card was used here. I tried calling your phone and when I didn't get through I assumed the worse. We boarded the jet and came here right away. I couldn't get through to Mr. Diggle either."

"I think my phone fell out of my pocket at the bar when I was trying to get Bob here. He needed treatment and the hospital wasn't going to help him unless they received payment! I had to help."

"I'm sorry Mr. Queen," Diggle said, "In the rush to get to the bar this morning, I probably left my phone home."

"You're Robert Queen," Bob said from the hospital bed.

"Yes my son Oliver has been working for you. I'm sorry about the deception but he needed to learn a few lessons,"

"Oh I think we all knew who he was. Donna was always watching those gossip channels in the early afternoon. I did think he looked familiar but it wasn't till they had that special on ' _Six Months Without Oliver Queen'_ did I put it together. I figured Felicity knew when she applied for a job at Queen Consolidated."

"Oh, about that Ms. Smoak," Robert said looking intently at her, "Walter wanted to inform you himself, you got the job. Welcome to QC,"

"Well done kid!" Bob exclaimed only to have the machines start to beep because his blood pressure rose in the excitement.

The nurse came running in to check on him. "I think this is too much excitement for you. Everyone but one person should leave,"

"I'll stay," Diggle said. "You guys go on,"

A limo pulled up and Felicity looked hesitantly at the car. "We can come back for the mini later," Oliver said placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her in. Tommy had already jumped right in. Once they were all settled inside, the conversation started up again.

"So where are we going?" Tommy asked excitedly.

"I didn't realise you were here," Robert admitted to the younger Merlyn.

"Diggle actually didn't report on something," Oliver said bitterly. He was still sore over that.

Tommy ignored Oliver's comment and answered the elder Queen, "When dad kicked me out, I made a bee line for Oliver. Felicity so kindly took me in."

"Felicity tends to feel sorry for us spoiled billionaire brats," Oliver added to Tommy's explanation.

"Play nice," Moira warned in that motherly tone she used to use so often when they were younger. "Oliver, are you going to introduce me to your friend? I gather everyone else has already met her."

"Mother this is Felicity Smoak. She is so much more than just my girlfriend," Felicity blushed. Oliver squeezed her side in a sign of support.

"Felicity this is my mother. I believe you met my father briefly before the interview,"

"Felicity it is a pleasure to _finally_ meet you," Moira said.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Queen,"

"Please call me Moira dear." Felicity smiled.

The car stopped and they all got out in front of the MGM Grand.

"We will be staying the night in the suit. Please join us for dinner tonight," Robert said to his son.

"Sounds fantastic," Tommy said.

"Not you Thomas. I am sure your father will not appreciate us taking you out but don't worry I will make sure to send Oliver and Felicity back with a nice doggy bag for you," Moira said.

 **Apr-3**

They both dressed up, Felicity deciding to wear the blue Couture dress Thea had given her, Oliver in a suit and tie. They went to the most expensive restaurant in Las Vegas. It took all of Felicity's self control not to gawk at everything. She could only imagine her mother's reaction if she were still around. Dinner went splendidly well. Just before desert, Felicity and his mother excused themselves from the table, leaving him alone with his father. He decided to grab the bull by the horn.

"Dad about the deal,"

"It's ok son. I understand that it was an emergency. I am willing to ignore it once you stick to the terms of the deal for the rest of the month."

"No dad. A deal is a deal. I'm ready to join the company,"

"Does this have anything to do with Felicity?"

"No and yes. I know it's time for me to step up. I want to be the man that Felicity sees. I want to live and work in the same city as her. It's just luck that we will both be at QC. Felicity started looking for a job in Starling City in January because she knew that was where I was going to be. I didn't encourage her to look anywhere else in the country because I wanted her there with me. I also want to do something more meaningful with my life and I realise that QC has the potential to touch the lives of many people. My salary can also help me fund my side project. This is our future. I am embracing it but I want to finish off the month with Bob,"

Robert smiled widely. Of all of his business ventures the challenge he issued Oliver had been his most successful. Oliver was now the man his father always knew he could be.

"Very well, I'm proud of you son. You and Felicity will start on May 1st."

"We look forward to it," Oliver smiled truly meaning what he said.

When the ladies returned to the table, Felicity was all smiles. Later that night, Felicity would confess to him that Moira said she approved of their relationship and she had been waiting to meet her since Thea had come home in December. She had also thanked her for Thea's passing grade in algebra.

 **Apr-4**

They were all in the waiting room while Bob underwent the angioplasty. One of his daughters and her son, Bob's grandson, had flown in the night before. His other daughter was making arrangements to fly in later that day. Once Bob was out they would observe him for twenty four hours before they sent him home. After which, Bob had firmly stated he was going back to work.

The doctor came out, "Family of Bob Schneider,"

They all stepped forward, "You're all family?" he asked particularly eyeing Diggle.

"Yes," Bob's daughter said.

"He's fine."

The cheers were loud.

"He's very strong. It was a success but he's going to be on medication for the rest of his life. He's also going to have to change his diet," the Doctor explained.

"Can we see him?" Felicity asked.

"He's in recovery right now. In half an hour we'll start letting you in to see him one at a time,"

 **Apr-5**

Oliver found Felicity staring out the living room window sombrely while she played with something in her hands.

"What wrong?" he asked sitting next to her.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about life. Do you remember I told you about the man that sent us those Hanukkah decorations?"

"Yes,"

"On the last day of Hanukkah, after you left to go to the bar, a package arrived from him. I wrote to him at the beginning of Hanukkah informing him of my mom's death so he wouldn't feel the need to send anything but he still sent this letter," she said reaching over the coffee table where the letter was. "I sort of read it then but I had put it aside. I don't think I was in the mood for it at the time. I found it again when I was packing up. He sent this beautiful 14K gold dreidel pendant with it. He said I was to give it to my daughter, for her to know the story of her grandmother and how she let a stranger into her home to celebrate Hanukkah. He also said that it would be his last gift to us but he thought it would be his most enduring gift of all. It just got me thinking about my mom. Not only did she raise me, but she helped me meet you,"

Oliver sat next to Felicity and kissed her on her temple, "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she said leaning forward to kiss him softly. She then returned to staring out the window.

It wasn't the first time that they had said the words to each other. Those three little words had first been said after a very passionate night. He had been the first one to say it. Now they said it to each other frequently. He gave her a quick hug before standing and leaving her alone. When Felicity was upset, particularly if they were fighting, she would always say she needed air. Hours later she would come to him and they would talk it out. Even though months had passed she was still grieving for her mother and he would give her the space she needed. She knew where he was, when she needed him.

 **Apr-6**

Oliver had one week left before his last day of work. In three minutes they would be closing the bar. Bob, Tommy, Carl, and Diggle were in the back cleaning down the kitchen. Tommy had somehow dropped one of Bob's chef knives behind a counter in the kitchen and he needed Diggle to move it a bit so he could get the knife out. The girls were in front wiping down the tables and Felicity was seated in front of the bar telling him about a conversation she had with Thea earlier in the night. It was the middle of the week and the crowd had left already. No one was there but them.

Two guys with hoodies came through the door. Oliver went on alert immediately noting where the girls were.

"Hey guys sorry, the bar is about to close," Oliver said as they approached.

They pulled out guns, the girls screamed, Felicity, in an act of true athleticism that he would later be very proud of, jumped over the bar to where he was. Those defence classes and yoga sessions were really working. Bob, Carl and Tommy came running out, the latter with the chef knife in his hand.

"Give me all your cash," one of the guys in the hoodie said moving over to the girls while his partner kept his gun trained on the men that came from the kitchen.

The man held on to Samantha's arm roughly.

"Hey, leave her alone," Carl said stepping forward.

"What you going to do?" the man goaded squeezing Samantha's arm. "I might just take her for a little fun later," he said pulling her away from Alice.

Carl ran at the man and the man shot him the shoulder, sending Carl to the floor. Samantha and Alice ran towards the boy while Oliver tugged Felicity closer to him.

"Cash now!" the man that had his gun trained on the guys said.

Bob glanced towards his office where his shot gun was but Diggle shook his head. Carl was already shot, they didn't need to make the situation worse. Oliver moved over to the register, the man that shot Carl put a bag on the counter, Oliver filled it with cash.

"And the tip jar!" the other one said.

Oliver picked up the jar and tipped the contents into the bag. The man walked away from the bar but Carl reached out and tripped him up, sending him tumbling forward the gun flying out of his hand. Those two started fighting on the ground, Carl clearly losing the fight but both Alice and Samantha jumped in. The other man took his eyes off the guys to look at his partner and Diggle took that opportunity to strike, throwing the nearest bar stool at him and quickly closing the distance between them. Tommy moved behind the bar and Bob went into his office for the shot gun.

The other man managed to push Alice and Samantha off of him and retrieve his gun. Just as he was about to take aim at Diggle who had just finished knocking out the other guy, Oliver took the knife from Tommy and without thinking about what he was about to do, he through it across the bar into the shoulder of the man. He dropped the gun again and that gave Diggle the opportunity he needed to close the distance and disarm the man that man as well. Bob had come back out of the office by then with the loaded shot gun and kept it trained on the two men.

Felicity called 911, within five minutes the police and two ambulances were there. Carl was rushed to the hospital immediately. Felicity told one of the paramedics about Bob's heart attack earlier in the month and they thought it was best he went in to be monitored for a 24 hour period. The stress of the robbery could trigger another heart attack so the second ambulance that was supposed to take the suspect that had been stabbed was commandeered to take Bob to the hospital. The suspect complained bitterly but it was hard to feel sympathy for him after he threatened to shoot them. A third ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital to have the knife removed from his shoulder. The rest of the crew had to give statements to the cops.

 **Apr-7**

As soon as they finished with their statements they headed to the hospital. The closest thing to family Carl had was Bob. After much convincing, the Doctor agreed to update them on Carl's progress. They had removed the bullet and they were stitching him up. He was lucky because it didn't hit anything vital and had lodged just behind his should blade. He would go to the ICU first and depending on his stats, then they would send him to a recovery ward. Oliver's black Amex card again came out triggering another panic call from his parents.

That night Oliver found it particularly difficult to let Felicity out of his sight for more than two seconds. If things had gone differently, any one of them could have been shot. The thought that Felicity could have been taken away from him that night shook him to his core. He couldn't imagine his life without her. He decided that he needed to learn more than self defence. He needed to learn how to use weapons so that he could properly protect his family.

 **Apr-8**

The next day they were all in Carl's hospital room. Because of his drug history and suspected addictions, the hospital did not give him pain killers.

"This is why drugs is bad kid. It permanently damages brain cells so that when a loaded gun is pointed at you, you do stupid shit," Bob said.

"I don't know, I kinda of thought it was brave," Samantha said.

"What is wrong with this new generation?" Bob asked.

Oliver and Tommy laughed. Their father's were always asking the same question.

The bar would have been short a bus boy but Bob's grandson decided to come out and spend some time with his grandfather so he was going to pick up Carl's duties until Carl recovered. Carl was actually responsible enough to realise he couldn't take too long recovering because he had to make money to pay back Anatoly.

 **Apr-9**

Diggle had been apologising profusely for the incident. It was his job to keep the bar secure but Bob waved him off. If he had confronted them at the door, Bob was sure that they would have shot him and killed him. Bob hired Diggle to keep the drunks in line, not stop armed robberies. If his bar was becoming a target because of its improved success he needed more security. The next day some of Diggle's buddies arrived. There was Floyd Lawton, a man in desperate need of a job to take care of his wife and daughter, Ted Gaynor, Diggle's former Commanding Officer and Paul Knox another former member of Diggle's unit. One guy would be stationed at the door and the other two inside the bar. They fit right in. It was particularly cute when Floyd's daughter would come by around six to see her dad before she went to sleep. Bob would put her on a bar school and give her a tall glass of milk on the house.

 **Apr-10**

The end of the month came quicker than they imagined. Their bags were packed and a limo was waiting to pick them up at the end of the night to go to the Queen Mansion. Felicity had provided Tommy with a detailed list of when each bill was due. She was crossing her fingers that Tommy would remember.

Diggle was going to continue on as a bodyguard for the Queen family and Lyla was going to join him. Diggle had been living off his salary at the bar and sank his entire salary from his contract with Mr. Queen into a beautiful three bedroom townhouse for him and Lyla. They were thinking of expanding their family soon in a few months now that Lyla seemed more settled and their marriage was again on sturdy grounds.

Bob was throwing a big party to celebrate his 'best' employee Oliver Arrow and Oliver didn't have to work. Tommy had mixed a special cocktail for the night called "The Green Arrow". It sold well and Bob added it permanently to the menu in honour of Oliver. There were many heartfelt goodbyes. The regulars were going to miss him and Felicity. They promised they would be back. Tommy was still there and Off the Beaten Strip was a special to both of them.

The challenge was officially over now but a new part of his life was opening up and it seemed more daunting than that challenge ever was.

 **An:** Laura I hope even though you guessed the ending of the challenge correctly that it was still a good read.

 **An 2:** There is another chapter and an epilogue to come.


	14. May - Post Challenge

**An:** I do not own Arrow. Thank you to the guests for their reviews.

 **May**

May 1st found Oliver settling in his new office as Vice-President of Queen Consolidated. He wore a brand new grey suit. His mother had had all of his suits remade for his new physique. Oliver looked out the large glass window to the city before him. It felt like he was looking at Starling City with fresh eyes. His father had been right. There had been a lot that he needed to learn. One of the things he needed to understand was people. People were what made things work, were what gave cities their life. QC would be no where without the employees to run it. He wouldn't have his life style if the accountants didn't do their job, if HR didn't hire people, if IT didn't keep the computers running. If he had started working as the spoil brat that he was, he would have failed miserably, just like he knew he would have but his father had taken the time to make sure Oliver was fully equipped for the business world before he threw him into it.

His day was filled with reacquainting himself with the heads of departments. He had met them before at various Queen functions but he didn't really know them. Now he had to work with them for the company so he needed to get to know them. Bob had taught him to know your employees and your customers.

He scheduled his last meeting of the day with the Head of the new cyber security department. Oliver couldn't control the brilliant smile that occupied his face when he quietly snuck into her office. She was glued to the computer screen, a red pen between her red painted lips.

"Felicity Smoak," he said startling her. "I'm Oliver Queen,"

A coy smile broke out on her face, "I know who you are Mr. Queen,"

"Mr. Queen is my father," he responded.

"This could get confusing because I'm quite sure my boyfriend is also Mr. Queen?" she said tilting her head to the side cutely.

"Really," Oliver said sitting on the edge of her desk.

"Yes and I'm waiting for him to take me home,"

"It would be terribly remiss of me to keep such a beautiful woman waiting then," he said rising and offering her his hand, "Shall we?"

"We shall," she said taking his hand in hers.

The few employees that were still there were shocked to see that the new department head leaving with Oliver Queen, their hands linked firmly together. Oliver got into his sleek BMW, to take Felicity to her first meal at Tablesalt. He was very much looking forward to spoiling his girlfriend with everything her heart desired.

 **May - 2**

By the next day, it was on the cover of every gossip magazine that Oliver Queen had returned and he was dating Felicity Smoak. All sorts of rumours started to fly. Investigative reporters started looking into how and where they met. By the end of the week they had found Off the Beaten Track. Bob had threatened a few of them with his shotgun. The reporters were quite intrigued to find Tommy Merlyn at the bar, running a whole page about the former playboy's fall from grace.

Cooper came forward from jail as an inside source about them, relating how Oliver ruthlessly set out to steal Felicity away from him and lured her with promises of wealth. He claimed Felicity's mother, Donna Smoak, was a gold digger and encouraged her daughter towards Queen. He also had the gall to say that the charges against him were fake and that he was being framed by the Queens. Oliver wished that he had broken Cooper's jaw so he couldn't sprout such none-sense, insulting the memory of Donna Smoak. He immediately issued a press release countering all of Cooper's claims. He didn't pull any punches when it came to defending the character of Donna Smoak.

They mostly ignored all of the rumours. They avoided the paparazzi, Diggle was quite good at intimidating them when he crossed his hands in front of his chest. Lyla too was good at getting them to leave Felicity alone. Her time shouting orders in the military came quite in handy when she 'spoke' with photographers. A few members of staff had questioned Felicity's qualifications to hold her position but that soon disappeared as they realised Felicity was more than qualified for the post.

 **May-3**

After being dragged through the city with Felicity and Thea, they found a high rise loft that they both liked. It had a fire place like Felicity had envisioned and ceiling to floor glass windows so they could look out at the city. The kitchen was well equipped and spacious which was something that was important to Oliver. They brought the old furniture from the Mansion to furnish the loft. Felicity refused to allow him to buy new stuff from the stuff from the Mansion was only two years old and probably had never been used. She did allow him to buy them a beautiful king size bed. Felicity teased him when he didn't choose the queen size bed.

Thea would be going to Stanford University in August. She had decided to stay closer to home. He suspected Roy might have been part of the reason she didn't want to go out to the east coast like she had always claimed she wanted to do. She was splitting her time between their loft, the Mansion and the apartment in Las Vegas. She had taken Roy out to meet Tommy, as his best friend had complained bitterly that he hadn't gotten to meet the leading man in Thea's life yet. Never mind that Moira and Robert hadn't met him yet either, Tommy still believed he was next in line to screen him.

 **May-4**

Oliver's phone was ringing. He recognised it as Tommy's number. Felicity warned him that he would call today. Her alerts had indicated that the electricity bill had not been paid yet. Oliver picked up the phone.

"Tommy what a surprise!" Oliver said.

"Oliver there's no electricity!" Tommy said in a panic.

"Oh, maybe there's an outage,"

"I thought so too at first but then the neighbour's radio is playing. My apartment is the only one with no power! What do I do?"

"Gee, maybe pay the bill Tommy,"

"The bill?"

"Yes the electricity bill that would have arrived a few days ago in the mailbox. You have been checking the mailbox right?"

"Uhh hold on," Tommy said.

He heard Tommy curse as he ran into the sofa. The door opened and there were footsteps.

"Aha!" He heard Tommy say, "there's a mailbox."

Oliver slapped his forehead, "Tommy, Felicity told you three times there was a mailbox."

"So how do I pay the bill again?" he asked Oliver.

"Read the bill and follow the instructions on it," Oliver said before hanging up.

He wasn't that bad was he?

 **May -5**

It was Felicity's birthday and he was taking her out to an Italian restaurant. She wore a beautiful red dress that his mother had bought for her. He had been surprised when he came home and found not only himself with a brand new wardrobe but Felicity as well. His mother had even matched some her outfits to his suits. When his mother went shopping she always came home with something for him, Thea and Tommy, now Felicity had been added to the list. Felicity was going crazy trying to figure out how to repay his mother for all the new clothes.

The hostess welcomed them and seated them at a private table at the back.

"Your mother comes here all the time?" Felicity asked looking around.

"Yes, she's rather fond of the salmon tartar but everything on the menu is good, particularly the soufflé. I think I'll try and cook that next. I hear they can be challenging," Oliver said.

"I'm sure you'll get it on the first try," she said looking down at the menu in her hand, "Everything on here sounds so delicious,"

"Do you want me to order for you? I know exactly what you should start with. We can sample the rest of the menu on other dates,"

"Order away Mr. Queen," she said winking at him.

"Ok," he said. He summoned a waiter and told him to go ahead with the menu he had ordered in advance.

"You're well prepared," Felicity said.

"I am," he agreed, "I wanted to get your first birthday we celebrate as a couple right,"

She smiled, "it's perfect so far,"

"Good, I got a gift for you,"

"Oliver I told you, you didn't have to," Felicity said.

"Well it's sort of for both of us. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life if I didn't join QC for another two years, I thought about doing something in real estate. I thought about that rat trap I had been living in and thought maybe I could buy it and fix it up for those living there. I bought it last week and I also bought this," Oliver said sliding an envelope across the table to her.

"Oliver you didn't?" Felicity said.

Oliver smiled at her.

"You purchased my apartment building," she said surprised.

"I wanted you to have a place to return to in Las Vegas. I know you don't want the whole building so I'm giving you your apartment. I'm going to use the profits from your building to help subsidise some of the costs to repair the other building. I'm still researching some business models before I formally set up the holding company to manage all the renovations but I hope to start by the summer."

"Have I told you today how much I love you?" Felicity asked.

"Not since we left the loft half-an-hour ago," Oliver replied cheekily.

"I will never get tired of saying it, I love you Oliver Jonas Queen," she said reaching out for his hand.

"And I love you Felicity Meghan Smoak," he replied squeezing her hand in his. If they weren't in a fancy restaurant he would have pulled her across the table, straight into his lap and kissed her senseless.

 **May-6**

Oliver considered himself a very lucky man. Shado's twin sister, Mei, practiced as a doctor in Starling City. Their father, Yao Fei, ran a martial arts studio in the city but he split his time evenly between his daughters. When Yao Fei wasn't there, he had two other trainers, Maseo and his wife Tatsu teaching students. Oliver was keen to take his self defence lessons much further so he joined them. He regularly came home with bruises. Felicity would fill the tub with hot water and soothing bath oils and he would relax in the tub while she soothed away his aches for him.

He was learning two types of martial arts and archery. Yao Fei insisted that he learned how to use a bow and arrow first before any other type of weapon. After he mastered that, then could move on to sword fighting with Tatsu. Oliver hadn't expected to enjoy archery so much but there was something relaxing in pulling the bow back and releasing the arrow, watching it fly through air to the target, or in the case of his first few shots, wide of the target.

 **May-7**

It was his birthday. He was supposed to meet Felicity in her office at five o'clock. She had been planning something for his birthday with Thea. He knew Tommy was in on the plans but the last time he spoke to him he said he couldn't get the time off to come across because of the bar. The old Ollie wouldn't have understood but the new Oliver did. Sometimes, you just couldn't afford to do what you wanted to do. Earlier in the week it had been reported that the club Verdant had been rented out by the Queen family to celebrate his birthday. He figured they were going to do something very over the top for him. He would have been fine with a simple family gathering. He arrived at her office to find her busy behind her computer. She gave him an apologetic look and told him she would be half an hour more. He shrugged his shoulders. He liked watching her work. He was in no hurry to go to any club.

Forty minutes later they were standing outside their loft, while Felicity opened the door. It was dark inside, as Oliver was about to reach to flick the lights on, they came on, on their own and a loud chorus of surprise was yelled! Oliver jumped and many camera flashes went off.

A pair of hands wrapped around him from behind, "I thought you would want to celebrate your birthday with your family, extended family and some of your new friends," Felicity said resting her head against his back.

His father, mother, Walter and Bob were close to the kitchen. Alice, Samantha, Thea, and Sara were in corner snickering. Tommy and Laurel were behind a make shift bar. Carl, who was responsible for the music, seemed to be getting the stink eye from Slade for some pop song he was playing. Shado, Mei and Yao Fei were standing with him. Diggle, Lyla, Maseo and Tatsu were in their own little group. Everyone he trusted was in this room.

He turned around to face his girlfriend, "but the club?"

"Was a decoy we leaked to the papers to keep you off our trail,"

"Yao Fei would like your thinking," Oliver smiled, proud of his girl.

"I know," she beamed, "he complimented me on it when I invited him to your celebration party. But let's not be rude, you have many guests to greet," she said patting his back encouragingly.

He decided to start with his parents, Walter and Bob. His parents hugged him, Walter and Bob chose to shake his hand.

"You better like the food. I slaved away in this fancy kitchen of yours to cook everything I knew you liked, included plenty of portions of my wings," Bob said.

"You didn't have to," Oliver said.

"I did. Felicity paid me handsomely to cook for you and I get to enjoy the party. We all came across here on that private jet of yours. That's a nice way to travel," Bob said. After catching up a bit he moved to the next group.

Thea, Samantha and Alice had decorated the loft. William was sleeping upstairs in a guest bedroom. The four month old had somehow gotten into all the streamers and created a huge mess. They were supposed to be ready for five but they had to make Felicity delay him because of that hiccup. Thea was also peeved that Roy was late. She figured her boyfriend was freaking out about meeting their parents. She had already sent him 10 messages. He promised he was on his way.

Tommy was handling the bar, serving plenty of Green Arrows for the party. Laurel was helping him. Tommy had taken the opportunity to visit his father earlier in the day. If Tommy didn't screw up anything in the next three months, then his father was willing to let him work at Merlyn Global in October. If after the six month probationary period at the company, Tommy was doing well, he would restore access to his son's trust fund. Tommy was very much looking forward to that again.

By the time he made it to Slade, his group had merged with Diggle's group and they were discussing marriage and children. Maseo and Tatsu had a four year old son they had left at the baby sitters. Slade and Shado were trying to get pregnant and Diggle and Lyla were contemplating adding to their family. It was a discussion he wasn't ready to get dragged into yet. Things were great with Felicity but they weren't at the marriage stage yet. They needed a little bit more time in Starling before they reached there. On June would mark a year since he met Felicity. He was planning a weekend retreat to a vineyard to mark the important milestone. Mei, being single, was just nodding her head at the conversation. She looked bored. After a few quick hellos to everyone, he extricated her planning on taking her to the single ladies section. He introduced her to Samantha and Alice. His sister had joined their parents with Roy. Felicity seemed to be hovering on the edges to make sure the introduction went well. Thea was nervously fidgeting with her hair.

Oliver decided to head over and show his support for Roy.

"Roy," he said as he reached over, shaking his hand firmly, "thank you for coming,"

"Shouldn't I be wishing you Happy Birthday and thanking you for inviting me?" Roy asked.

"Technically, the thanks go to Felicity but she knew exactly who I would want here," he said to him.

"Oliver you knew about Roy?" his mother asked him.

"Yes I met him at Christmas," Oliver said.

"This has been going on since Christmas?" Robert commented surprised.

"Yes perhaps you had Diggle watching the wrong child," Oliver said. He may have grown and matured but he couldn't help but sneak that one in there.

"And you didn't tell us?" his mother asked him.

"Wasn't my secret to tell," he answered simply.

His parents looked like they were ready to grill Thea, so Oliver did what big brothers are supposed to do and bailed his sister out, excusing them to go request a few older songs from Carl.

This was the first birthday that he didn't drink himself into oblivion and wake up the next morning in a stranger's bed. He had spent all night catching up with friends, laughing and truly enjoying the conversation. His biggest surprise was how much William had grown in the two weeks they were gone. He wondered what Samantha was feeding him. It wasn't until everyone had left, in the wee hours of the morning, that he was finally able to hold on to Felicity. She had been the perfect hostess last night, moving between the guests and making sure everyone was comfortable. She had even found time to freshen up and change into a black cocktail dress with cut-outs in the side. The sight of so much skin had been teasing him the whole night.

"Are you ready for your final birthday present?" she purred.

"There's more?" he asked.

She smiled coyly, "just a little something I picked up a Victoria's Secret for us,"

"I like that sound of that," Oliver said, "should I wait here while you slip into it,"

"It's already on, you just have to unwrap the packaging,"

Oliver didn't need to be told twice as he picked her up bridal style, took the steps two at a time and placed her on the bed to carefully unwrap his last gift.

 **May-8**

At the end of May, Oliver felt they were truly settled into their new life. Las Vegas seemed so long ago. Every Sunday, there was a family lunch rotated between the Queen Mansion and the loft. Felicity had insisted that Moira didn't have to host all of them and as Oliver and her had their own place they could host them as well. He found family dinners in the loft were cozier; they were also the ones that Roy could come to since the loft was much closer to the Glades than the Mansion. It was also more neutral territory.

His parents had been harping on Roy's lack of education so Felicity offered to help him study for his GED. After that he could go to a community college or learn a trade. Tommy had told him there was always a need for bartenders. Thea's hopes for Roy were a little higher than that though.

A salmon ladder had moved into their apartment and Oliver was trying to convince Felicity to put a stripper pole in their bedroom. Pole dancing was supposed to be a very good form of exercise. If she could enjoy watching him, he thought he should get some similar entertainment. She told him he would have to be satisfied with her execution of downward dog. He wasn't giving up hope though. Maybe next year he would convince her to get it for his birthday.

He had finished a full month of working for QC and it was much better than he ever would have thought. It was challenging and meaningful though he didn't understand what the purpose of meetings was other than to waste ones time. For the first time, Oliver found himself looking forward to the day that his father would hand him the reigns to the company.


	15. Epilogue

**An:** I do not own Arrow. For those of you that cry easily, I advise a tissue for this. Thank you to all of the guests that reviewed.

 **Epilogue**

Four months at QC had passed fast. Oliver started making his own mark in the company by partnering with Palmer Technologies on several green energy and nanotechnology projects. The intention was to apply those technologies to the Glades so the cost of living in the community would be reduced. The mayor was rejecting the idea of cutting-edge technology being placed in the Glades so his mother decided to run for Mayor in the upcoming polls. Besides the usual flowery promises such campaigns had, she also promised that the technology would be used to create a sustainable, environmental friendly community in Glades.

The only downside to the partnership was Dr. Ray Palmer himself. That man was a persistent pest that annoyed Oliver. The man constantly tried to charm Felicity. Palmer just couldn't take a hint that Felicity was Oliver's. Short of punching Palmer, Oliver had taken to the use passive aggressive methods to get his message across. Palmer didn't like broccoli with his lunch, Oliver ordered every dish with broccoli in it for lunch meetings. Palmer didn't like long e-mails. He preferred things short to the point. Oliver made sure to write e-mails that were pages long, embedding the important details throughout the e-mail so Palmer would have to read the full thing. Felicity, his genius girl, had caught on to what he was doing quickly. The fight had been epic, Felicity had actually spent the night at the Mansion with Thea and his parents because she was so angry with him.

Their eventual make-up was just as epic culminating in a weekend getaway to the Caribbean. He also marathoned all 22 seasons of Dr. Who with Felicity every night for a month. He decided then what he would be adding to her charm bracelet next, a silver TARDIS. She would love that. It would also symbolise that their relationship could survive any struggle.

* * *

On the 13th of September, Oliver and Felicity had returned to Las Vegas. The next day was the _Yahrzeit,_ the anniversary of Donna's death _._ Felicity and Oliver had come out to place the _Matzava_ , or headstone on her grave. The process started with the lighting a twenty-four candle the evening before the _Yahrzeit_. Donna had already selected which headstone she wanted _._ It would be inscribed with her Hebrew name, dates of birth and death. Donna left it up to Felicity if she wanted to include an inscription. Felicity thought about what she would write during those times when she would stare out of the window and think of her mother and what her mother meant to her and everyone around. Felicity decided on:

 _Loving Mother, Loyal Friend, Devoted Worker, Kind-Hearted Person_

 _She will be missed by all who knew her_

The ceremony was beautiful. His parents, Thea and Roy had flown out for it as well as Walter and other staff members that Felicity worked closely with. Even Palmer turned up. The press had to be kept out. Felicity refused to let the press make a circus out of the ceremony. After the ceremony was over, Felicity wanted a few minutes to herself. Oliver gave her the space that she needed, watching her from a distance as she bent over and spoke to the headstone. Despite her best efforts she started crying. It took all his self control not to sprint forward and hold her. After five minutes she made her way towards him.

"Ready," Felicity asked. They were supposed to head over to the bar where they had decided to celebrate Donna's life.

"I just want a minute. I'll meet you by the car," Oliver said walking over to the headstone.

He was all alone.

"Donna I need to thank you. I know I sort of said thank you before but I didn't truly know what I was thanking you for. I need to thank you for having faith in me. For believing I could do the job. For convincing Bob to hire me, for letting me into your home but most of all I need to thank you for Felicity."

A stray tear made its way down Oliver's face.

"Felicity is more than I imagined I could ever have. She's more than I deserve. There are so many times when I feel like she needs more, particularly when that Ray Palmer comes around. I know you pre-approved me straight through to marriage but I don't know if you might prefer Palmer. I would like to think you would still prefer me for Felicity,"

A beautiful blue butterfly, landed on the gravestone. Oliver was taken back. In his entire time in Las Vegas he had never seen such a butterfly. The butterfly then flew towards him and when he held up his hand it landed on his palm. A part of him, he would never admit existed, hoped that this was Donna's way of telling him she still wanted him to be her son-in-law. He was pulling out his phone to take a photo because no one would believe this when the butterfly flew off. He decided to finish the last part of his thank you to Donna.

"You'll be happy to know that I have an appointment with a jeweller when I get back to Starling City. I want a special ring for her. Now don't squeal too loud, I'm sure God needs to hear the prayers. Goodbye Donna, you'll never be too far from our hearts."

After he finished saying his final peace, he made his way towards Felicity who was waiting patiently by the car for him. She didn't comment on the water in his eyes. They were silent until they reached the bar. The first thing Oliver did was turn on the juke box and dance with Felicity.

His parents seemed to enjoy watching Tommy work. His father was coming up with all sorts of rare requests to frustrate him. Even his mother was participating in 'the make Tommy work' scheme. Even Bob seemed to be getting a kick out of it. At the end of the bar Lyla and Alice were sipping on a glass of water. Both women were pregnant. Their make shift family would be expanding in a few months with two more babies. Thea was looking forward to it. Apparently baby clothes were so cute. She told Alice and Lyla one of them had to have a girl so she could buy those cute little tutus she saw in the store. Oliver had warned Roy, no babies until they both had finished school and were settled in life. He made sure to show Roy exactly how well he could shoot a bow and Arrow. Roy promised no babies.

Felicity managed to get Moira to eat some of Bob's famous wings with her hands. Thea couldn't resist taking photos and posting it to instagram right away, the famous Moira Queen eating with her hands. Moira glared at Thea but she was immune to it now. Moira also asked Alice to do a portrait of Tommy by the bar. She would put that one in her home office. The elections would be in one month and the polls had her well in front of any of her opponents. She was practicing her acceptance speech already.

Tommy would be coming back to Starling City at the end of September. Felicity didn't feel comfortable renting the apartment to just anyone but she didn't want to leave it empty either. Carl and Samantha approached her asking to rent the apartment and share the expenses between them. Neither could afford such a place on their own but they were hoping that pooling their limited resources together would allow them to live in a nicer place. Felicity let them stay rent free once they covered their bills. She knew their budgets were tight. Carl paid most of his money back to Anatoly and Samantha was taking a class at the community college. She also allowed Samantha to use the mini so that she could get to class easier.

Oliver was concerned. Carl wasn't exactly a good character for Samantha and William to be living with. He wanted to have someone close by to check up on them. With a huge smile on her face, Felicity asked him very sweetly how that would be different to his father hiring Diggle to keep an eye on him. Oliver realised two things at that point in time.

1) He had officially lost the right to sulk over the fact that his father had hired Diggle to watch him and with horror

2) He was slowly turning into his father!

When it started getting late, Oliver wrapped his hands around Felicity's waist.

"Are you ready to get out of here?" he whispered in her ear.

"Yes but I don't really want to go back to the apartment with Tommy," Felicity admitted.

"Pick any hotel on the strip," he said.

"How about the plane home to Starling City? I want to curl up in our own bed," she admitted.

Oliver smiled, "anything you want dear."

* * *

At the end of September, Oliver visited a prominent jeweller as he told Donna he would. He wanted a ring, a special design, one that represented them. He sat with the jeweller for an hour talking about his relationship with Felicity. He told him how they met, how they fell in love, what she meant to him as well as his dreams and hopes for them. While he talked, the jeweller sketched. The final design was perfect in Oliver's eyes, a platinum band, with two arrow heads that pointed to an emerald cut diamond in the middle. The stone would not be too big. Felicity did not like things over done. It would take two months to hand craft and source the diamond needed. Oliver didn't mind, he would propose on the last night of Hanukkah. Before he left, he also remembered to order the silver TARDIS charm.

His father's challenge was the best thing that ever happened to him. Not only did he grow and mature but it also brought Felicity into his life and for that, he would owe his father for the rest of his life. He only hoped that one day he would be able to repay his father for everything he had done for him.

* * *

 **An:** Thanks for reading. There will be a sequel written in Felicity's PoV but first I want to get the next few chapters of Treasure posted as well as some of my other one-shots.


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